Month: August 2016

Past, present & plans 8-24-16

/ Jim McDonald / 2 Comments

Past, present & plans 8-24-16

 

Past

 

I was six, when dad took me to my first baseball game. It was at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC. That was the Senator’s team that moved to Minnesota in 1960.

 

We had some good players, but Harmon Killebrew was the one to watch. I was too young to be much of a fan, however an afternoon with dad was special. Popcorn was sold in a funnel shaped piece of thin cardboard and once you were finished with it you could tear the bottom off of the funnel and have a makeshift megaphone. My only memory of the game was yelling Killebrew through the piece of paper, while dad egged me on.

 

Good memory

 

Present

 

It was a good weather day, but I still did not walk. No appointments of any sort, so I stayed in and saved money. My neighbor got evicted today and that makes four that left, in the two years I’ve been here. Two of their own accord and two were forced to leave.

 

Plans

 

I remembered today, that when I write something in WordPress and share it on Twitter, I should hashtag certain groups. So I hash tagged: #shortstory #storytelling #write #books and a few others. I had immediate success with several likes and a few new followers. I will do the same thing with my poetry, by adding #poetry and #poem.

 

Random thoughts: stuck in there (true story)

/ Jim McDonald / 2 Comments

Random thoughts: stuck in there (true story)

 

I was waiting for my appointment, when an older man walked in and sat down two chairs to my right. Close behind him was a lady, that sat between us. I gave them both the head nod to imply hello, before they sat down. She returned it, while he did not

.

The man did most of the talking, however he didn’t talk in structured sentences or a conversation. He would make statements and he would always start these statements with her first name. As far as l knew, all of his statements were random facts. He would rattle off two or so in a row. Then breath and she would say something like, “that’s nice John.” Then he would tell her a couple more.

 

Every now and again I said, “Wow, I didn’t know that.” Or “That’s cool.”

 

After saying that a couple of times he asked, “Who are YOU sir?”

 

I stood up and put my hand out, “Jim McDonald.”

 

He promptly stood up and shook my hand, “John David.”

 

We sat down and he told me some jokes. I believe he told me five jokes, every time saying Jim before each joke. Then he told me five more, before he said, “Jim, tell me a joke.”

 

I told him, “I’m no good at that, I can’t remember them.” He shrugged. I then said, “I remember one. What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?” I waited a few seconds for his answer or for him to say ‘what’. He didn’t say a word, so I said, “ A stick.” That’s an old joke, but he must of laughed for ten seconds, then abruptly stopped.

 

I realized that he was a very smart man. His problem though, he can not interact in a back and forth conversation. Everything he said was a statement, no answers. I think he has all these memories stuck in his head and he can’t talk about them. All he can do is repeat them, probably over and over again.

 

I wonder if he is aware of this and the only way he can express his thoughts are by a fact close to what he wants to say. Or does he just randomly state facts. If he realizes his situation, then he’s stuck in there with all his thoughts and can’t share them with the world.

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La Plata, MD

Your three words, my little story: Gloria’s words

/ Jim McDonald / Leave a comment

Your three words, my little story
Gloria’s words: patience, courage & love

 

Gloria has an extreme amount of LOVE and affection for her family. After all she was there for her children’s first steps, words, cuts and bruises. Life seemed to be coming up roses most of the time for her kids. Not all the time, but more than most.

 

However, her neighbor’s family was stricken with a killer disease, called Amyloidosis. It’s a rare disease with no cure, called Amy for short. Abnormal proteins are deposited in bone marrow and sometimes in the tissue or organs as well. It killed the mother, oldest son and now it has afflicted the mid thirty daughter.

 

The daughter came back home, so her dad can take care of her, especially since he has experience with the disease. Gloria new the family well, since they lived side by side for decades. She witnessed an extraordinary amount of COURAGE her neighbor’s had. Even though he has been devastated by this unforgiving killer, he still had a tremendous amount of PATIENCE with it. Now he has to watch his last child and only daughter fight the big the fight.

 

“I have and have had family members fall prey to this disease”

Poem: Time

/ Jim McDonald / 2 Comments

Time

By Jim McDonald

Favorite

can’t hear it
can’t see it
can’t feel it
or can I

 

elusive but
all around us
forgotten but
mirror finds it
lost but
always here

 

can hear it
slipping away
can see it
fading away
can feel it
wasting away
here it comes
now

Your three words, my little story: Dr. K’s words

/ Jim McDonald / Leave a comment

Your three words, my little story

Dr. K’s words: boy, dog & shoe

3-2-09-9-bandit

Bandit at fourteen years old

 

The dog destroyed the boy’s shoe. I feel this sentence would be cheating, so here’s the story.

 

Doctor K was afraid of dogs ever since he was a little BOY. He never shook the fear that came with the terrifying DOG bite, fifty two years ago. The bite was deep into his right ankle and the dog wouldn’t let go, until the boy’s mom hit the dog with a bat. Then the mutt’s long sharp bloody teeth let go of his flesh, so painful for the frightened eight year old.

 

It was 1962 when his mom took him to the Wilson clinic that fall. A memory that will never be forgotten by Dr. K or his mom. Back then Sloan barely had a post office, so his mom had to travel an hour to get help. She wrapped his wound as tight as he would let her, but by the time they got there, the poor boys blood was all over the car seat. She realized later she could have put some newspaper under his leg, but who would blame her for not thinking about the car seat. All she wanted to do was get him to the doctor.

 

Not knowing whether the dog had rabies or not, steps would have to be taken to prevent further infection. The dog was nowhere to be found, so while the nurse was taking his SHOE off, the doctor was preparing to give the boy a series of shots. The doctor didn’t hide the needle very well, so when the kid saw it, he started crying. He yelled, “I just got bit by a huge mutt, now you want to stick that into me.”