Dinner Time

Dad’s passed out in his chair.
The dog by his side,
Guarding his sleep.

I set the table
Dishes clink,
Punctuated by soft growls.

Food’s cooked, table’s set,
Everything’s ready,
Except me.

Mom calls Dad to
Our fault finding ritual
Disguised as family dinner.

He heads for the fridge.
Another waking moment,
Another beer.

My brother inhales his food,
A clean plate and
He’ll be out the door.

I try to be more invisible.
No point in eating fast.
I have to clear the table.

Head down, shoulders hunched,
Listening, waiting.
Whose turn will it be tonight?

My brother bolts,
Mom abandons me
To my fate.

Alone with this man.
Violent drunk,
Loving father.

Nothing happens.
This time.

Clarity of Night Contest

A short fiction contest (max 250 words). There's still time to enter.

My piece - 133 words.

It's good to stretch those creative muscles in all kinds of directions.

Shift Your 'Digm

A long time ago, someone very smart invented a wonderful little time waster called solitaire. If you own a computer, you most likely have some of the variations that spewed forth from that original invention. Today, I’m going to talk about Free Cell.

At the top, it’s got those four nifty little spaces on the left for inconvenient cards and four more spaces on the right to place the cards by suit and in order from Ace to King. Let’s call the end goal, A to K, spots the market.

The mindset for this round of play is to achieve the end goal – get those cards to the market. I know – that’s the whole point of this game and it is – sort of. I mean, besides wasting time. But make every choice solely about getting the next card to the A to K slots. And remember, this isn’t about winning; it’s about concentrating on a strategy. Yes, I know, this will kill your statistics.

For the next round, we’re going to shift the paradigm and concentrate on building K to A stacks in the home field. Forget about the market and only work on creating long stacks of alternating colors. It’s ok that cards will jump up to the market on their own. Just don’t put any there yourself as we’re only building stacks at home.

What I’ve found between these two options is that concentrating on the home work achieves the end goal more often than concentrating on the market. But what works best is a combination of these two approaches – being creative at home, but keeping an eye on the market.

A Day Late

For my late father.

The story that best epitomizes who my father was…

Mom went to the pound for a white cat. She came home with a white one and a black one. Dad put his foot down and demanded she return the black one. He’d only consented to have one white cat and that was all they were going to have. Mom agreed, but said she had to wait until the next day as she had a meeting to go to right then.

When she returned from her meeting, Dad was in his recliner with the black cat draped over his chest, her head on his shoulder.

“Frisky fell asleep.” He informed Mom of both the cat's current condition and her new name.

Frisky never laid on him like that again, but once was all it took.

Dad – Gruff, crusty exterior, total marshmallow inside.

Gay Marriage

I was thinking today about the 18,000 couples who got married during our five months of equality and remembered that we are not the only gays who are married in CA.

There are a number of gays and lesbians who marry someone of the opposite sex for a variety of reasons. Some have to do with immigration, some with parenting and some with appearances. The marriages that fascinate me are those concerned with appearances and may or may not include a written contract and/or bonuses for bearing children. But at least (some of) their fans will believe they are straight and happily married.

To be the lifetime, committed lover of a person who is publicly married to someone of the opposite sex? To never be acknowledged as the true love of his or her life? Would a lavish lifestyle make up for living a lie?

Not for me, but I’m also not there and faced with making that choice.

Questionable Gift

Looks like someone tried to leave us a dog. It was in our yard this morning and took off down the street. Then I found the leash wrapped around a brick next to the garage. I’m guessing bitten in two or just plain broken off. And now we’re sitting here not wanting to go to work so we can look for the poor thing. Already drove around the neighborhood once and didn’t see it.

Some people are idiots. And it’s the dog who suffers.

This sucks!

Am I Right?

Previous discussions of right and wrong led to this thought in the comments:

So now I'm wondering if my characters should see the world as B&W which more fits what kids are like or should introduce the idea of shades of grey.

What do you do when writing fiction for children? Do you write the world as they see it or do you try to open their eyes a little?