There’s no way to hate Without getting jelly and crumbs On your hangman’s noose.

How Vince really lost his left ear — and damned near his life.

“Be careful with it,” the archaeologist exclaimed, “It might have a metal frame, but it’s also made of glass and is very fragile!” The six assistant’s continued moving the heavy artifact between the narrow walls of the old building and up the newly prepared dirt ramp. The structure had been part of an underground complex…

The old mule saw the figure standing on the left side of the path, stone ax in hand; so it stopped. Impatient, Zeke struck the animal using the lead-rope, trying to make it move, but it refused. “You ornery, stubb’rn idjit! Git movin’!” Then the figure stood in the narrow between the walls of the canyon…

Day four and my head was still hurting. My wife suggested I go to the doctor, and much to her surprise, I agreed. The doctor ran a battery of tests on me, checking my ears, eyes, throat, heart, blood pressure and even sent me for an MRI. After everything, nothing could be found that might…

“Hey, Vic,” I said to the know-it-all scientist, turned doctor, “I had no idea you’re into body building.” “Very much so,” he replied in his slight Easter European accent. “Do you have a favorite?” I queried. “My creation of course,” he answered. “Really?” I questioned, knowing something was off about his presence. “This is a…

“Hola’,” the aging lawman said, touching the brim of his cowboy hat, as he drove by. He didn’t recognized the Mexican woman, nor should he have as the last time he’d seen her was nearly three-decades before in the dark of night and not in the bright of the day. She slowly turned in her…

My wife dragged me to the art gallery to view a traveling Reuben exhibit. I tried to avoid going, but no luck. “We need some culture in our lives.” However, she didn’t anticipate looking at painting after painting of curvaceous ladies in the buff. She complained, saying it was unfair that all the nude paintings…

Hawkins broke through the sliding glass door at the back of the old Shipley house, jimmying the plastic frame with a flat-bar and poured gasoline throughout all the rooms, including the garage. He lit a match, threw it and watched the flames flash-over in a single hungry gulp and with a thump that violently reverberated…

She found me in the back alley, where I was drowning in affordable rot-gut. She was young, pretty and I tried to ignore her, until she sat down beside me. “I can guess when you’re going to die,” she offered. Too wasted to realize she was serious, I laughed at the thought and wondered what…