Six Word Autobiography

by Andy Hanson

Arrived complaining

Lived complaining

Died complaining

Time Prompt

Time

Too much and not enough

Stay in the moment

Wrap your arms around it

Don't let it slip away

Don't look back

Don't worry about tomorrow

A step at a time

One foot in front of the other

Live for today

Carpe diem

God! There are an awful lotof cliches about time

Emily Gallo

Judging by the Cover

LG was an alcoholic, a wino on the streets of my town
Polite people called him a derelict, and tried to avoid his company
But they didn't know...

When he passed away there was an outdoor remembrance of his life
In the park where he did most of his drinking
Hundreds of people attended
The Mayor spoke
As well as LG's former wife

If, during the 19XXs, you hung out on the streets of "X", California
A University town with a reputation for drugs and alcoholic disorder
You would have been familiar with LG
He was ubiquitous, with a brash, frequently obnoxious persona
And he organized, after a fashion, the winos
If a public event were being planned in LG's favorite park
The wise sponsor would know to slip LG a $20 bill at the beginning of the day
LG would take his fellow inebriates to a different park for their day of drinking
It was an easy tactic to avoid confrontations with the resident drunks
Even the police used it on occasion
In that fashion, and others, LG, was a peacekeeper

But he was erratic

I once saw him, very drunk, fighting another drunk
It was one of the most hilarious moments of physical comedy I have ever seen
The two men rolled and tussled and shouted and swore
The second drunk had a cast on his forearm
He used it for a club, pumelling LG on the head
Not to much effect
The police arrived, broke up the fight
Because they knew LG they didn't arrest him
So he went home, assaulted his wife and broke her jaw
After years of abuse she finally told LG to leave
A year later she married B, and he treats her with great kindness
But she never stopped loving LG
She spoke at his memorial with great fondness for the man

Last Words

His last words were a gently smiling “Thank you”. My father had become very polite in the last stages of dementia. It’s what he said when I put him on his bed that Saturday night in one of our bedrooms, a room stripped of everything except a bed with a hospital sheet.

First Kiss

I pulled up in front of her house. I looked over at Nancy. There was a pregnant pause. She slid over and planted one on me. It was a real juicer! I got out of the car, tripped over the curb, fell face down in wet ivy, walked her to the door in a daze, drove home without lights.