The Man and His Tomato Plants (2022)
Glen and Becky discovered the man and his tomatoes in the spring and summer after they had purchased their cozy bungalow at Cracker Box Hill. The two had become empty nesters and, after 30 years, had broken dramatically with their grand house on Hamilton Park, the home where they had raised their children. Their big jump toward retirement, a move of 40 blocks, CONT.
Cold Comfort (2018)
Frigid weather was not a factor when we were young. We welcomed the challenge. It was raw, but so were we. The jostle of crowded streets and hiss of the library’s radiators frustrated the arctic air during Christmas season in the big city. The bundles of memory warm us now. (Originally published in 50 Word Stories)
Unionist Emeritus (2009)
Mary Love is a cleaning lady. She works for a contractor and currently is assigned to clean in a bank building on Forsyth Boulevard in Clayton. Four hours a shift, five evenings a week, she empties trash cans and dusts furniture. CONT.
Wrestling at the library (2009)
Incumbent Francis Slay is the odds-on favorite to win a third term after serving eight years of what many have considered capable leadership.
He's pursued his reelection campaign with workmanlike seriousness and has enjoyed a fundraising advantage of about 200 to 1 over his best-known challenger .... CONT.
Homecoming (2009)
More than 50 children - most of them bundled up, some dressed like angels - were working the room boisterously as I walked down the basement stairs and entered the cafeteria last Wednesday evening.
They had gathered with their parents, and more families arrived by the minute. CONT.
Blind justice (2009)
To Anna Kratky, a young assistant St. Louis circuit attorney, it was a case of a man who violently lost control on a cold January night.
The police had received a 911 call that a man was beating a woman outside a South St. Louis two-family house. As two officers arrived, they found a woman sitting on the stoop, crying. She had a cut on her CONT.
Play Ball! (2009)
St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean famously said that "it ain't bragging if you've done it." So, it's with all humility that today we welcome President Barack Obama and tens of thousands of fans from across to the nation to St. Louis - the greatest baseball city in America - for the 80th Major League Baseball All-Star Game. CONT.
Love is strong
as death (2000)
It is a ritual that, while familiar in many of its themes – sacrifice, selflessness, bravery, dignity, discipline, gratitude, loss, and lament, does not simply dwell in the past; while largely unspoken, the ritual brings with it, because of the nature of this calling, the ominous, highly personal recognition of day-to-day peril and prospect of future loss. CONT.
Remembering Robert L. Hall (2011)
Mr. Mann recalled that Mr. Hall’s child had been expected in April or May, and would be his and his wife’s first. After 35 missions, Mr. Hall would get to go home. The two buddies conspired to get him home in time for the birth.
Mr. Mann was the squadron’s lead navigator and did the scheduling. Mr. Hall sought every assignment possible to hasten his leave. CONT.
A light came out
of the blue (2003)
Within weeks of my landing, I lived through what then passed for Citywide catastrophe: the famous blackout. The region lost power when lightning down major transmission lines. But memories of the lights going out aren't what endure. It was their coming back on. CONT.
Hal McCoy makes time stand still (2005)
There’s truth to the claim that baseball operates outside of time. The clock, after all, can’t affect a game’s outcome, and delay is no defense to the ninth-inning rally.
But every new season brings with it a little recognized part of the sport that can be as time sensitive as the photo finish.
For sale by auction (2021)
Notice by Order of United States Bankruptcy Court,
Eastern District of Shenandoah
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE:​
Exquisitely maintained historic church of gothic design and stone construction, built 1895 (the “Church Building”), and associated structures are being sold at auction under auspices of a Bankruptcy Trustee to satisfy judgment creditor in wrongful death claim.
Visit after hours (2024)
A young man, maybe in his late 20s, stood inside the cemetery’s open front gate as I pulled up in my rental car. I arrived five minutes before closing. I looked at him sheepishly, and then gestured with an apology shrug; palms turned up.. CONT.
