Being sick, having a fever and suffering a continual headache for a week can leave some people desperate. I once heard of a woman driving a four-inch nail into her head to find relief from a migraine. That’s desperate and supposedly, it worked. Personally, I cannot see myself being that hard-up to pound a spike of…

In his 1906 short story, ‘Man About Town,’ O. Henry takes the reader on a small adventure about New York City, searching for the illusive man about town. The story isn’t simply about a curious man’s hunt for another. It’s more of a journey towards self-awareness. This is a lacking that you and I don’t…

In forensic science, Locard’s Exchange Principle says that the bad guy will unintentionally bring something physical into a crime scene and leave the same with something from it. If you take this a bit further, and outside the realm of criminal investigation, it stands to reason that we can leave behind in our daily wake,…

She calmly propped the now-empty shotgun against the door frame and walked out to her waiting horse. Once in the saddle, she rode south-west, towards Gold Hill, Nevada, name-unknown and directly out of the historical archives of the state. Rattlesnake Dick’s big claim to fame was that he was a two-bit hustler and a thief.…

People watching isn’t limited to the mall. While at the Department of Motor Vehicle, I got to watching a boy of about seven and his younger brother. The pair were playing at the feet of their father. When dad was called to the counter, the older boy leaned into his younger sibling and stated as…

Sam Smith. That’s the name he’d been going by for the last 150-plus years and it suited him fine, like the 21st Century and it’s clothing styles, which he thought of as he adjusted his tie, making certain that the double-Windsor knot was as small and tight as possible. He enjoyed looking impeccable for the…

Poor Thomas’ Almanac for January 30: In 1835, Andrew Jackson survived the first attempt against the life of a U.S. president. Time’s are  changing as the media is openly calling for the assassination of President Donald Trump.

There’s a Cherokee tale called ‘White Wolf and Black Wolf’ and I’m about to purposely screw it up. Last night, I allowed Black Wolf to control me. In my darkness, Black Wolf bit down on my head like a vice-grip, shook me violently and kicked away at my innards. Fortunately, I made it to the…

My friend passed away. I thought her death unfair. She’d beaten cancer only the week before. Grief consists of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Sometimes these five stages come one at a time or all at once.  In my case, they came at once, hitting me hard. After a night of drunkenness and petition…

Misplaced feelings (happy, sad, glad, mad) are common as I learned following the death of a good friend. All the night of her passing I whined about how sad I was that she’d beat cancer, only to be taken because of an infection. To this end, I got blitzed, hoping to numb the pain brought…