Just a story, dated 9/17/85

I just saw a beautiful sight.


At the Cracker Barrel. A 4 year old girl having breakfast with her father, alone.

He was eating and listening and reacting. She was talking, jestering, questioning. A little blonde girl with a pony tail.

When the father had finished eating, he sat back. light a cigarette and studied the check for errors. Then he relaxed. The little girl continued talking, asking, inquiring with her hands and verbally.

Soon they left their table and walked out of my life, as they had walked into it.

Dust On The Rose

I think it's time for this poem. I wrote another one titled Homeless. It says what it says and means what it means. Another writing can't really be called a poem. It's mainly just a message
to myself.

Standing high on the mountain side,
Lookomg at forever,
The barren land and the single rose
Reach deep into my memory.

Running far across the plain
The wooden statues stand
The barb threads run to the end of time,
Stealing your freedom from you.

The old weather beaten shack
Atop the mountain range,
Its tumbled and gone now
Left empty for so long.

Now he lives in a sea of grass.
The clear blue sky to share his day.
The soft blowing wind forever there,
Caressing the rose of the morning.

There is dust on the rose in the quiet
Of the morning--as the last petal falls.

Written in 1975.

Dear Santa

The year was 1936. A mother had a child out of wedlock but would tell no one in her family. She named the child Ellen. The mother had no idea what to do. A nurse, Ru th, found the new mother in tears and offered to help. She arranged for her parents to take care of the child until the mother could get things in order. She never came back for the child. Ruth's parents, Jesse and Evertt, never formally adopted Ellen but raised her as their own. This is where I skip a very great part of Ellen's story.

Ellen married Ted in 1956 and Ted became part of Ellen's family. Ted must have impressed someone because "out of the blue" in 2010 he received a call that he should contact Met Life Insurance. It seems he was named contingent beneficiary on an annuity life insurance policy purchased around 1970 by Ruth on her daughter, Pamela. Pamela had twin girls around 1967. The primary beneficiary was Ruth. Ruth died around 1980. Pamela died around 1990. Met Life finally found me in 2010. I'm suprised that Ruth didn't name one of her sons as contingent beneficiary. Anyhow I contacted Met Life, received the money for the annuities issued 40 years ago and sent one half to each of the twins.

Merry Christmas!