Black flag on the lawn falls in pieces from the sky. Starlings in command. Donal Mahoney

Another day at the zoo and Wally’s new job was to feed the ap… Old Stanley had fed the apes for 40 years and loved the job but told Wally he was retiring.

Spring will eventually arrive, Tom tells his youngest daughter looking out the window at the snow… Take heart, he tells her, and listen for the blue jays when

It’s not good when two disturbed p… with little in common disagree by… on something important. Tone and content can get raucous and make matters worse because eac…

Odd fellow who does odd jobs in the neighborhood four seasons of the year has disappeared in high summer and his customers are nervous.

Cookies for George, 40 years back from Viet Nam, are the only payment the man will accept to mow your lawn,

Where I live the press says teen use of heroin is epidemic. I thought an epidemic was a widespread disease afflicting thousands caught in

What if after Browne has gone one of us discovers who Browne was… leads the rally to his room before the maid has time to broom the web… retrieve from underneath the bed

Porch light bright all night keeps thieves away but not the moths that dance till dawn

Widow in a rocker pets her calico cat long strokes slowly. With the cat purring and the widow humming

I never remember year to year but then some morning in March I’ll walk out in the yard

It’s time to leave the man alone. He’s getting old, his wife says. He’s really slowing down. He’s always been a man occupied with one thing

Day and night preachers hawk the Message of the Cross on television. Once a month they pause and beg for money for

On their 50th anniversary Sammy gave Dolly a necklace and told his darling wife that if they lived long enough one of them would wake

You’re an old man in a nice suit and tie out with your wife at a fancy function with nice people