Category: Short Stories

A Weapon So Devastatingly Deadly, It Oughta Be TOP SECRET. ********** Saranac Lake, circa 1975: Our Pine Street Gang was pretty firmly established by then, ensconced in our family’s home headquarters on Stevenson Lane. There was me, of course. I was about twelve at the time, accompanied by the...

Every Goal Has Its Price ********** For nearly half a century the sprawling ranch style house situated just beyond the small north country city’s reach had been his family’s home. A young man’s version of he and his wife proudly bought it as newlyweds. It had grown with them...

********** He had never been a particularly religious man. At least, not overtly. Most of his conversations with God involved hurling a profanity laced framework of frustrated anger towards the sky’s cloud covered heavens around questions like, “Are you happy now?!?” “Do you find this amusing?!?” “Is that all...

To Ari Rae Marra The Apple of Grampa’s Eye ********** ********** This is Ari Rae Marra. She loves to visit her Grampa’s house. Ari Rae and her Grampa have their own special greeting. Fist bump, high five, gentle head butt. It’s how they tell each other “Hello” & “I...

When Life’s Struggle with Death Leaves a Blood Trail He lifted his nose to the breeze gently riding the first rising rays of the sun. Beneath October’s dank, musty fallen leaf blanket and balsam bough cover scent, the crisp north woods promise of snow filled his nostrils. Headed towards...

Sometimes The Holy Grails We Seek Are Right There All Along I suspect we each have our own individual grail quests. It’s a uniquely personal endeavor, filled with passion, hope, heartbreak and peril. Holy Grails themselves can evolve over time and take many forms. For me, one of my...

Life Lessons in Football, Mathematics and Cheerleaders      It was fall 1980. I know this because it was also the fall of my senior year at Saranac Lake High School.      Life as a high school senior for me was firing on all cylinders. I had a part-time job...

When Life Is Defined By Its Final Few Seconds      To the casual observer, the grey-haired old man didn’t look like much.  Much of what a life and death battle with cancer had left unclaimed, father time had not.  Yet quietly hidden beneath life’s well weathered façade there remained...

My Survivor’s Mission: Giving Hope Voice      Long I’ve been waiting for some signal or sign.  Finally, God has revealed my purpose. This is my mission. I’ve received my orders.      I’ve now endured fifteen long years, battling my way through seemingly insurmountable life and death odds, fighting my...

I May Have Been a Pep Rally Cheerleading Phenom, But My True High School Major Was Lunch Hour.      I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but I absolutely loved high school.  Many cherished memories of life were crammed into those four short years, including some of my...