Month: February 2021

3:00 A.M. – Short Fiction

It was one those nights, Ned was tossing and turning, and restless. He looked at the alarm clock, and it read 3:00 a.m. He decided to get up, put his clothes on, grabbed his keys and cigarettes, and went for a walk. The air was warm, and the stars were shining. It felt good to walk in the quiet solitude, of the tree lined street he resides on.

When he returned home, he felt like a new man, and the stroll helped clean out the cobwebs in his head. After all was said and done, Ned went back to bed, and before you know it, he was out like a light.

3:00 A.M. The Village Square -Short Fiction

The village square is for the most of the time, relatively dead, that you can hear a pin drop on the steel grating. But on this early morning hour at 3:00 a.m., accompanied by a full moon, and a few scattered clouds creeping by, something odd was happening. There were a pack of dogs chasing a man. His face was panic stricken, and hollering for help, but no one bothered to call the local sheriff.

Two hours went by, when a driver for the bread and pastries company was making a delivery to the diner, when he found a man’s body mauled to death. The man was so badly bitten and scratched, was close to being unrecognizable. The sheriff along with the county sheriff, and the state police, are puzzled as to why nobody heard the man’s screams for help.

To this day, it is still an open case, and eventually become a cold case file.

3:00 A.M. Downtown – Short Fiction

A late winter storm, dumping copious amounts of snow on the streets and avenues, in the downtown area. Its 3:00 a.m., not a soul to be seen venturing in the deepening snow. Even the plows are having a hard time keeping the roads cleared. The only places that are still open, are a 24 hour mini mart, and a drug store, neither of the doing much business at all.

The pandemic has a done a number on quite a few businesses, and some of them have shuttered for good. So, with the economy tanking, and now the latest storm, won’t help most of the remaining stores, as it will keep the pedestrians home, and will have to put up with more cabin fever, which they have been going through for the past 11 months.

They feel that its a never ending story.

3:00 A.M. – A Short Story

Every morning, at 3:00 a.m., you will find an elderly gentleman, sitting in his favorite booth, having a cup of coffee. He has been patronizing this certain coffee shop, since he retired many years ago from the book editing job, that he had for over 35 years.

He usually is the only one there, and he has gotten use to the solitude he enjoys. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like. It can be cold, hot and humid, raining or snowing, it will not stop him from walking the two blocks from where he lives in a high rise downtown apartment.

When he’s finished his coffee, he will take one to go, and then stop at the kiosk, and by the morning newspaper. Later in the day, he will take a nap, recharge his batteries, and then he will go about whatever he feels like doing.

The Crazy Ones

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

~ Steve Jobs

Its Like This

Walking, which I do several times a day, helps keep me in shape, control my blood sugar levels, and air out my head.

I will pound the sidewalks in most any type of weather, except when its pouring rain, and/or if the snow is coming down to hard.

Define Your Character

“Go without a coat when it’s cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it’s all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you’re made of and what you’re capable of. If you’re never tested, you’ll never define you character.”

~ Henry Rollins – Musician, February 13, 1961-