Bushido Part I — Shihan

"The way of the warrior can have unforeseen aspects."

Tentatively, I stepped forward and unsheathed the iaito in one smooth motion, making sure the immediate cut would precede my foot and yet that the stance was secure and stable before the sword hit its imaginary target—a true challenge in...

Island Red

"He'd come to Aruba after a divorce to drown his sorrows, when a cute bartender invites him to take his fill of her."

Clearing the head“What’ll ya have?” the bartender asked.The young redhead moved with grace, her lithe form visible beneath her thin dress.“Mai tai. Please.”Ian straddled the barstool and leaned his arms heavily on the bar.“The classic, huh?” the woman said.Ian shrugged....

Midlife Renewal, Part One: Awareness

"When I turned forty, it seemed the end of my world as I'd known it. But it was really just the beginning."

Right after my fortieth birthday, as winter was setting in and things were turning gray, my wife Jane filed for divorce. The following weekend, I found myself moving into a dumpy, overpriced apartment. Alone.Not a great start to middle age,...

Across A Crowded Room

"A mature black woman and a young white man make eye contact across a room and it leads to her hotel room"

Every four years, the company for whom twenty-four-year-old Liam Bridges worked held a hotel evening get-together of any staff from the company's eight UK branches that wished to attend. Liam had been with them less than three years so this...

Alison Goes To The Bar

"Alison, a very presentable gurl, goes to a well known local bar one night and hooks up with a mature man"

Forty-six-year-old Alastair Hunter was seen in his local town as a pleasant, well-liked man who kept himself to himself. It was known that he lived alone and sometimes people wondered if he might have a girlfriend on the go but...

Church Work Day

"The brush growing through the chain link fence stands no chance against Estefania and her machete..."

There are about fifteen of us swarming the grounds of Mrs. Jackson's little house. Two weeks ago at work, Ellen and Chantal mentioned that some people from their church were volunteering to do some much-needed work for this elderly lady...