Crisp blue morning chill
Yields to golden afternoon
Trees wave colored leaves
...
Sheet-wearing ghosties
Scamper among skirling leaves
Candy-bags rattling
...
You silly redneck
Trying to fry a turkey
Burned down your trailer
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/road-forest-fall-path-trail-trees-1072821/
.jpg)
The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Went out on Halloween
He had too much to drink, and soon
Was feeling pretty mean
He started, then, to growl and roar
And staggered from the bar
He broke the windows of a store
And vandalized a car
He left his slime on everything
And ran through people's yards
He smashed their jack-o'-lanterns
That they'd worked so hard to carve
He went around and scared some folks
Who were just trick-or-treat-ing
But to their rescue came some blokes
Who gave that fish a beating!
The Creature fled back to his lair
Beneath the waters deep
The people said, "You stay in there
And don't come back, you creep!"
The moral of this tale of mine
Is very plainly seen:
If you simply cannot hold your wine,
Stay home on Halloween!
Image Credit » https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Still_from_the_Creature_from_the_Black_Lagoon_%2815666911261%29.jpg
Where is it, Bobby?" Marly demanded. She stood her ground, face pink and fists clenched, despite the fact that Bobby and Eb were three years older and three years bigger. Lisa stood behind her, tears still wetting her cheeks, blue eyes swimming with more to come, a comforting thumb tucked into her mouth.
Eb snickered, "Who wants to know? You little babies?" He and Bobby smirked at each other, clearly in high cotton over their little game of steal-the-dolly. "Whaddaya gonna do about it?" he teased.
Marly looked at him defiantly. "I'm going to tell Mr. Herman on you," she said, not allowing her total amazement that she was saying those ridiculous words to show. She built on her threat: "He'll come after you with his big mean dog if you don't give Lisa's doll back."
Everybody knew about Mr. Herman's big mean dog, because even though nobody had ever seen Mr. Herman (well, nobody they knew, anyway), everybody saw Mr. Herman's dog, who would come hurtling out of his doggy door--barking like Cerberus with three headaches--if anyone dared to come near the Herman house.
One thing the dog particularly liked to do was approach an unsuspecting passerby, silent as mist until he reached the fence right beside the person, whereupon he would burst into a roaring cacophony of barking and snarling that always got an immediate reaction. Perhaps, he reasoned, if he could not get through the fence to actually rend someone limb from limb, maybe he could cause death-by-sudden-terror. He was an evil creature.
This threat gave the boys pause, but only for a moment.
"You're so fulla crap, Marly," Bobby shrieked, gleefully noting when the girls winced at the forbidden expletive, "Crap, crap, CRAP!!!"
"You've never even seen crazy ol' Mr. Herman," Eb jeered. "You ain't gonna tell him nothin'."
"Batman!" Marly suddenly exclaimed, eyes widening.
"Geezy, you're gonna tell Batman on us, Marly? You're looney tunes!"
Lisa's eyes had widened, too, as she stared past the boys. Her thumb dropped from her mouth, which fell open. Marly, still agog, found her voice and spoke reverently, looking past the boys and considerably over their heads, "Batman, did you come to save Lisa's doll from these rotten, creepy, jerky boys?"
Eb and Bobby, convinced Marly was bluffing again, refused to turn around.
"We ain't turnin' around," they refused.
So Batman turned them around.
There he stood, hands on hips; about ten feet tall, it looked like, cape and all, in broad daylight, right there on Whitman Street. The boys practically lost their eyeballs out of lids stretched so wide. Their jeering was stilled quite completely.
"Give the doll back," said Batman, in a deep, raspy voice, just like in the movies.
The boys were petrified. They could not seem to work any of their parts, despite desperate wishes aimed at the parts involved in running very fast.
"Give the doll back ," Batman repeated, with a forward thrust of his imposing, cowled head for emphasis. The boys found sudden animation springing to their persons, and the doll, snatched from a ratty backpack plastered with death metal stickers, was offered humbly to the superhero.
"To THEM ," Batman clarified in disgust, redirecting their attention back to Marly and Lisa, who were still standing and staring at the masked avenger. The boys turned back to the forgotten girls and solemnly handed over the doll. Without another word, Batman disappeared.
Strangely, he disappeared in the direction of the Herman house.
Image credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/batman-car-comic-book-hero-6633/
The afternoon sun
Shines golden and warm
Onto the couch, creating an oasis for lazy cats.
---
Voices of children
Bubbling laughter, tickling in from the street
They hold onto the summer magic for as long as they can
---
Last-minute splashes in the pool,
Last-second stampedes for the ice-cream truck;
The school supplies are bought and waiting
---
The heat now diminished
From a parching sear
To a glowing kiss, this will be missed in the depths of chill
---
But for now, Autumn beckons
With apples and red and gold leaves, football and cool blue skies
Until next year, sweet Summer...
Image credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/calm-lake-surrounded-with-trees-under-cloudy-sky-5118298/
I came to the conclusion, once
While searching like the dickens
That brightly colored Easter eggs
Must come from colored chickens
Chickens purple, green and blue
Chickens orange and pink
Some chickens must have polka dots
And some have stripes, I think
Why would the chickens hide their eggs?
I pondered this, most solemn
They say a rabbit is involved
I think the bunny stole 'em!
I know that rabbits don't lay eggs
The hens do all the work
He steals the eggs and hides them all
That bunny's quite a jerk
Now I understand just why
(In order steam to let off)
They make him out of chocolate
So folks can bite his head off!
Free use image from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/egg-colorful-hare-easter-eggs-256025/
The softly rolling tide brought a little boat to you
It kissed up against you, but
Every time the boat gently nudged
You pushed it away
Just as gently.
It would swirl, confused,
Regathering,
But drawn back again by the sweet rolling waves.
One time when the little boat came back to you,
You pushed it away again
A little farther this time.
A new current caught the little boat
And it floated away.
Free-Use Image from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/paper-boat-origami-float-childhood-1644988/
I knocked, and he didn't answer
(okay)
Texted, and he didn't reply
(surprised)
Called, and he didn't answer
(concerned)
His car was there
The neighbor hadn't seen him
We had plans, I explained
We always do, on Christmas Day
The neighbor knocked, loud
On doors, windows
Yelling his name
(worried)
I called the police
He's on the transplant list, I explained to the officer
(crying)
She kicked the door in
He was there
(...AND???)
Just asleep, she said
(embarrassed)
But he wasn't
He wasn't okay
(scared)
The ambulance came
(on a mission)
Took him to the hospital
They asked
Are you a family member?
No
He's my friend.
They said
He's lucky you were there
He is going to be okay.
(exhale)
