745 words

By Barry Sparks

You don’t have to be a baseball fan to know umpires seldom lose an argument. But that hasn’t stopped players and managers from trying to get in the final word.

600 words

By Karen Telleen-Lawton

Numbers-wise, research indicates most couples enjoy intimacy throughout their lives. Consumer Health reports a near majority of adults over 60 convey having sex at least once per month; that same percentage would like it more frequently.

830 words

By Carrie Luger Slayback

I’ve trained myself to shut out all extraneous thought while racing. Still, in the last mile, I couldn’t help but look to my right at the sparkling ocean as we ran toward the finish. I felt good going through the shoot. As usual, I forgot to look at my time coming in. Yet, I wasn’t even winded, knees didn’t hurt. Good race.

710 words

By Wendell Fowler

I detest the full body, joy-sucking, hormonal release of anger, so when someone drives erratically, I shout, “I love you” and consider that person may have just lost their job, a loved one, or their dog.

700 words

By Sheila Velazquez

I do continue to plant a limited number of vegetables to eat, freeze, dry, pickle, and can. These are tasks I look forward to every year, even though I now grow only enough for one, with a little left over.

940 words

By Sally Breslin

The thought of having a tick that tiny, able to hide in any of about 15 quadrillion places on the sofa, caused me to instantly take leave of my senses.

735 words

By Cappy Hall Rearick

One whiff of that sweet lunchroom smell, and I was transported back to poodle skirts, saddle oxfords, bobby sox, and a ponytail.

1440 words

By Nann Parrett

She didn’t think he was capable of taking care of himself any longer. I knew the moment I walked into that kitchen and smelled burnt plastic that she was right. He needed help.

645 words

By Sharon Tell

Fortnight lilies live like a lot of old folks, not requiring too much attention. Like a stoic citizen in a time of challenge, they carry on, no matter how neglected they may be at times.

605 words

By Debbie Burke

Pirates sail the internet seas, looting and plundering treasure from a surprising source: obituaries. What is the treasure? Personal information that pirates use to scam the grieving family and friends or steal identities.

605 words

By Sharon Love Cook

During my annual visit to my ophthalmologist, he’d mentioned cataract surgery, which I’d dismissed. That was an “old folks’” procedure. Despite being a baby boomer, my vision wasn’t that bad. Yet it wasn’t the first time my eyes had tricked me.

1455 words

By Steve Heikkila

Fermented pickles are alive! They’re crawling with live bacteria, and that bacteria is good for your gut microbiota.

750 words

By Jacqueline T. Lynch

From the moment we see Flynn enter the castle with a killed stag across his shoulders, plunking it on the table in front of Claude Rains, we know this is going to be a hearty tale of knightly courtliness absent the table manners.

790 words

By Laverne H. Bardy

With rare exception, each time my primary doctor views my forwarded test results, he spots something unrelated to the reason I had the test, and, just like that, my life turns upside down.

745 words

By Holly Endersby

When it becomes too difficult for me to walk the woods, I’ll pass my favorite rifle on to my granddaughter. But until then, I’ll relish the quiet intensity of hunting on foot, matching wits with animals who know the ground intimately.

530 words

By Robyn Justo

And a shout out here to that aforementioned husband who never was (hey, Les), whose memories of our relationship 40 years ago appear to be a lot more positive than mine.

700 Words

By Arthur Vidro 

Let me get this straight. I’m in a supermarket. I want to buy a loaf of bread. We agree on the price. I am offering you the money. And you are refusing to accept it just because the computer that runs this joint has to give its blessing to the transaction?

695 Words

By Peter Merkl

We both knew my former, hyper-employed self would’ve reveled in this opportunity to wallow in self-pitying wrath at the pointless randomness of it all, loudly cursing Providence and my luckless fate. But somehow my three-month-retired self was handling it like a grownup.

890 words

By Victor Block

These folks unknowingly combined a bit of R&R with efforts to help preserve and protect Earth’s environment.

785 words

By William Levine

My sister worryingly brought up the question of when mom was diagnosed, and I pondered, “You know I wonder if Mom’s shopping spree at the shiva was related to the beginning of Alzheimer’s.

770 words

By John Coleman

So it’s like this, toots. You’re slowing down, and neither one of us will live forever. While you are still of sound mind and top side of the sod, receive this message from your son-in-law: You are now, and always have been, a wonder.

770 words

By Laverne H. Bardy

I’ve never been interested in planets, black holes, galaxies, or, for that matter, Star Trek. But, these experiences have caused Marc and I to consider that we may have made several visits to a parallel universe.

765 words

By Lilli-ann Buffin

“Buried beneath a heated throw with roots descending into the apartment below, I became an actual spud. I expanded into a lumpy tuber, sprouted a few skin tags and pesky chin hairs, and developed more brown spots than I could count.”

725 words

By William Levine

It took 50 years for me to recognize an opportunity to make a valuable difference in another person’s life.

595 words

By Arthur Vidro

We can summon up the will and the cash to pay a little extra for the privilege of buying American. But it’s still an almost impossible task.

680 words

By Sally Breslin

I’ll never forget the time I was driving to the post office, and one of the radio stations played a lyric from “Long Cool Woman” by the Hollies. Just so happened I knew the lyric: “Just a five-nine beautiful tall.”

655 words

By Wanda Haynes

We compete over which of us has the worst menopause symptoms. While having coffee in our usual spot, we menopause survivors talk about our bouts with this unexplained and misunderstood tyrant.

835 words

By Gary Chalk

I borrowed my dad’s Ford Fairlane 500 and drove to Jan’s parents’ house. Standing inside the front door, I wreaked of leather, musk, and cedar birch. It was like I’d been fighting a forest fire and forgot to shower.

500 words

Review by Holly Endersby

After 20 plus years in the firearms industry, Busse pulls the curtain away from forces most of us would rather not think about in terms of guns, gun rights, and political influence.

740 words

By Wendell Fowler

Hugs provide a way to share love and joy, lift someone up in sad times, and simply generate good vibes. In fact, we could scarcely survive without hugs. Must be why we were born with arms.

570 words

By Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal

While Heloise knew how to remove red wine stains from shag carpet after a rousing party, Phyllis’s ability to knock back a drink before it could hit the rug is now the skill I salute.