The Night Owl

She walks the night like it belongs to her

When she walks by everyone starts to stir

When she starts to apply her feminine ways

Everyone's mind goes into a deep hazy

You know that she likes to have her fun

She is a night owl, she has never seen the Sun

Her legs look like they go on for miles and miles

Her eyes are greener than the Irish Isles

She loves to make them scream out her name

Everyone thinks they're the one who'll make her tame

They always ask her can they see her again sometime

She just smiles as she feeds them another line

When she is alone she has a pain she cannot deny

When she is alone she cannot help but cry

Her real heart she can never let it show

So she goes on living the only life she knows

This is the first chapter of my upcoming book "Life From The Dead End Of The Street"

The Intervention

When I woke up this morning I felt no different than I felt any other morning. As I laid in bed I thought about the day that stretched out in front of me and I could not see how it would be any different than the days that stretched out behind me. I finally got my feet to the floor and I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the morning rituals I had followed for many, many years. I started by praying the same unanswered prayer I prayed every morning. I then went into the bathroom and wiped my eyes and looked in the mirror. Unfortunately I saw the same image of me I saw every morning, although I did notice I had lost a little weight. I then took a shower and got dressed for work like I did every morning. As I walked out my front door I thought to myself, “this day is going to be like every other day of my life.” I did not know how untrue that statement would turn out to be as I stepped out my front door into the barbed wired world in which I faced every day. The first time I noticed something different about today was when I stopped at a red light and another car pulled up beside me. I looked over and I saw a man who looked to be about seventy six years old was driving the car. He was staring at me with a most unusual expression on his face. I then saw him take his elbow and nudge the woman who looked about the same age as him. She then looked at me and her mouth immediately dropped open. By that time the man was staring straight ahead and I thought I could make out him saying, “Don't stare Martha.” If that is what he said it did no good because Martha kept staring at me with her mouth hanging open with a strange look on her face. I turned my head back forward and saw the light had turned green. As I drove away I could not help but think how stranger and stranger people were getting. As I was driving away I could hear car horns blowing so I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the car the old man and Martha was in had not moved. I only shook my head and said, “people, people, people.” When I arrived at work I parked where I always parked and got out of my car and went inside. As I walked passed the front desk I noticed that the woman behind the desk was trying not to look at me. I thought that was odd because she usually said hello and asked me how I was doing. I thought maybe she was having a bad morning so I thought no more of it. I went and got on the elevator and I noticed that everyone in the elevator worked on the twelfth floor of the building just like I do but they all just stared forward like people tend to do in elevators. As the elevator door was closing a woman I had never seen before got on the elevator and stood next to me and faced forward like everyone tends to do on elevators. When the the elevator doors closed and the elevator started going up I kind of got a queasy feeling in my stomach but it quickly passed. I looked over at the rather attractive woman standing next to me that I didn't know and she turned and looked at me. I smiled that smile at her and she gave me “the look”. Now guys you know what I mean by “the look”. That look an out of your league woman gives you when you try to flirt with them. Anyway, after giving me “the look” she started rubbing her nose. I thought maybe she was trying to tell me I had something on my nose so I started to raise my finger to my nose when I noticed everyone on the elevator in unison turned and looked at me. Just before I was about to touch my nose I stopped and decided against it and put my hand back down. I could have sworn at that moment I heard a collective sigh of relief. About that time the elevator door opened and me and everyone except the woman I did not know got out of the elevator and stepped onto the twelfth floor. The woman I did not know stayed on the elevator and rode it up to a higher floor. As I walked down the hall I started noticing that no one was talking to me or looking at me. I felt that was a little unusual because the people I work with although thought me odd still usually at least said good morning to me when I passed them in the hall. I was about to open my office door when I saw my best friend at work walk by and I touched his shoulder. He jumped a little bit and then turned to face me. “Daniel, how are you?” I asked him. He just shrugged his shoulders without saying a word. “Is everything alright? You look pale.” I said. Again he just shrugged his shoulders but this time when I mentioned he looked pale it looked as though he was holding in a snicker. “Man you sure are acting peculiar today. Anyway how about us eating lunch together today?” I asked him. Again he just shrugged his shoulders which I took for a yes. “I cannot eat to much because the last couple days my jaw has been hurting.” I said. He did not say anything but he looked as if he was trying his best to suppress a great big guffaw. I did not ask him why he was acting so strange this morning because Daniel was the best friend I had at work, Actually, he was the only friend I had at work. So I turned and open my office door and started to step into it when Daniel finally spoke. “Hey dude can you meet me in Conference Room number three at noon?” “Sure Daniel. Is something wrong?” “We'll talk about it at noon”, Daniel said as he walked off down the hall. I went into my office and shut the door and then sat behind my desk. This morning passed as all other of my mornings passed. No one came in my office to talk to me and no one called me on the phone as the torturing seconds passed by on the clock. Finally noon arrived so I got up from my chair and walked out of my office towards Conference Room number three. When I opened the door to Conference Room number three I saw at one end of the overly long conference table a crowd of my co-workers. At the end of the table sat Daniel. “Please come in and shut the door and sit down on that end of the table” Daniel said in a serious tone. I did as he said and then asked half jokingly, “What's going on? This isn't one of those interventions I have heard about is it?” “Dude there is something we have to tell you.” Daniel said in a calm and serious voice. “What is it?” I asked in a calm and serious voice. Daniel looked at the people standing around him and a voice from the back said, “Just tell him.” “Man,” Daniel blurted out, “you are dead.” A woman put her hand on Daniel's shoulder and shook her head and said, “You don't just blurt something like that out. You've got to ease into it.” “What do you mean I am dead?” “You've been dead about a week now.” Daniel said as he lowered his head. “Wait. I've been dead for a week and you are just now telling me? I mean why didn't you tell me sooner? How could you all let me walk around dead for a week and not tell me?” I asked. “Dude, it isn't like it was a subject that came up. Besides I kept hoping you would get better.” Daniel said in the hope of putting a positive spin on the news he had just told me. “If I have been dead for a week then why don't I smell dead?” I asked as I lifted one arm and smelled. “About that.” Daniel said. “Yes?” I asked. “Well. Have you touched your nose lately?” Daniel asked as everyone looked in the air pretending not to listen or look. I reached up to rub where my nose use to be and it was gone. “How long has my nose been missing?” I asked. “Well,” a woman at the other end of the table said, “When you came in yesterday it was gone. We looked for it around the office.” She then looked at everybody in the room and continued, “No one ever found it. Maybe you lost it at your house or on your way to work.” she said as she looked around. She started to say something else but just looked down instead. “Daniel. I thought you were my best friend. How could you walk around letting me think I am still alive and not say anything?” Another voice from the back said, “Hey don't be so upset at Daniel. After all when your bottom jaw fell off a couple nights ago it was him who sneaked into your house when you were asleep and wired it back on with some paperclips.” “You did that for me buddy?” I asked. “Yeah,” Daniel said, “it was no big deal.” “How? How did I ummm you know.” “Well, you were working late and was in the building by yourself. The next morning they found that the break on the elevator had broken and the elevator fell twelve floors and you were in it.” About that time the crowd of people who had been standing on the other end of the table separated and I saw my Boss walking between them and stood next to Daniel. “Mr. Ferguson,” I said. “I hope me being dead does not mean you are going to fire me?” “Well,” Mr. Ferguson said, “I have been looking over our company policy. There is no policy against dead people working for our company and your output has been about the same so you can stay for a little while longer if you want to. However, we may switch you over from selling car insurance to selling life insurance.” Everyone looked at me and when they saw I started to laugh they all started to laugh also. They all laughed that is until my lower jaw fell off again. Everyone stopped laughing at the same time as I picked up my jaw and hung it back on the paperclips as best as I could. I then said, “Mr. Ferguson I believe I have some sick time coming so I think I will take a week off if that is alright.” Mr. Ferguson nodded his head yes. I got up and left Conference Room number three and walked down the hall. As I was walking down the twelve flights of stairs I try to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my death.

THE END?

Oleander

 

 

  I was walking one evening near dusk along a desolate field. It was about a mile and a half into my walk when I came upon it. It was the second most beautiful flower I had ever seen in the somewhat mid-ranged point in my life I found myself in at that time. When I first saw it I could hardly believe my eyes. I rubbed them to make sure it was not a mirage I was seeing. I even blinked my eyes three times to make sure but there it stood. A lone and lovely vibrant flower living and growing beside a cliff. I knelt down beside it to get a closer view.

  As I studied this gorgeous creation I heard in my ears a distant and recognizable sound. It was the sound of thunder vibrating across the desolate field and beyond the distant scarred mountains. I turned to look toward the sound and I saw what I feared I had heard. It was a distant storm approaching. I could tell it was a violent and destructive storm. The only good thing about it was that it was moving very slowly. I would soon learn it was not moving slowly enough.

  I turned my attention back to the lone and lovely vibrant flower living and growing in the desolate field beside a cliff and that is when I recognized the flower for what it really was. I knew this lone and lovely vibrant flower living and growing in the desolate field beside a cliff had killed many before. If not this particular one then one of its own kind had killed many innocents. I turned to look at the approaching storm and could tell the closer it got the more intense it was getting. That is when it dawned on me that I had a decision to make. Perhaps the most difficult decision I would ever be called on to make.

   I knew that I had two choices before me. I could pick or dig up this lone and lovely vibrant flower living and growing in the desolate field beside a cliff and take it home with me. I could then either replant it or put it in a vase. I thought to myself, “sure it would get to live a few more days but in unfamiliar surroundings and then it would die.”

  My second choice was to leave this lone and lovely vibrant flower living and growing in the desolate field beside a cliff right where it was. I knew the approaching storm would kill it instantly with its pounding rain and savage wind. I thought to myself, “it will surely die sooner than if I took it home with me but at least it will die in familiar surroundings.”

  What to do? What to do? I knew it was time for me to make a choice that I would have to live with for the rest of my life. As I felt the rain drops hitting harder and harder and the wind was getting more and more pugnacious I knew I had made my choice just in time. It may or may not have been the right choice but I knew it was the choice I had to make.

  What did I do? That is a question that you may ask me of course and well expect me to answer. But wouldn't the more pertinent question be, what would you have done?

 

 

The End

I was thrown into this world before the internet or cell phones made this world much smaller. I became another part of a poor but somewhat loving family that lived in Brookhaven Mississippi. Times were hard so my dad moved us all over Mississippi from job to job to support us. After spending a chunk of my life in Mississippi I decided to move to Texas to seek my own life. While living there I met the woman who I thought was going to be the answer to my dream. But like most of my dreams that dream faded quickly away. Then one day in 2002 my Dad called and told me my Mom had had a stroke. So I gave up my good job and packed and moved back to a small town in Mississippi to help my Mom and my then 72 year old Dad. Then came Hurricane Katrina and destroyed our house. But we survived and "lived" in a FEMA camper for about six months until our house was rebuilt. We moved back in and thought things would be good now, but I guess I forgot how life is. In the first part of 2008 my Mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. But fortunately she got a hysterectomy and that took care of that, or so we thought. In early 2011 she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She had a tough time, after all by then she was 73 years old, but in September 2011 after a few hitches she had her bladder removed. After recovering from the surgery she then had twenty-five treatments of radiation. On July 7th 2012 she passed away. As for me, I take and make it day by day and help my Dad, who is now 82, as much as I am able to help him.
I had been writing a long time but never did much with it. Then after my Mom passed I decided to try and publish them. I now have several books online for sale.

To Visit My Amazon Author Page Please Go Here: My Amazon Page

To See My Books On Barnes And Noble Please Follow One Of The Links Below:

My Books On Barnes And Noble  (All of the books on the page are mine except the last book.)

To read my interview please go here: My Interview

The Sanitarium View

(Part 1)

I woke up in my bed to the elegiac sounds of horrific screams of pain and suffering. My eyes were weak and I felt like I had been asleep for a month. No matter where I looked all I could see was a blur. I could not stand the sound of those earsplitting plaintive wails anymore. I felt beside me and I found a bedside table with cotton on it. I stuck some of the cotton in my ears and laid my head back on my pillow and fell back to sleep.

The next thing I remember was waking up again but being able to make out shapes this time although they were just misshapen shapes of people I was sure I did not know. I looked to the right side of me and a man lying in a bed next to me slowly came into focus. He was a strange little man who I did not know but had seen somewhere before. He slowly started biting the thumb nail on his right hand and then moved on to the next finger in order until he got to his little finger nail on his little finger. He would then spit the nails out. He then bit the nails on his left hand in the same way and in the same order. Now you may wonder how I know precisely in what order he bit his nails and how I am so sure he bit each one. I should know because I not only watched him bite each one I meticulously kept track of him doing it. I then laid my head back on my pillow and fell back to sleep.

The next thing I remember is awakening to the deafening sound of thunder. It was so loud that it sounded like it was inside of my head. The ringing in my ears that remained after the thunder was gone made my head hurt like it had been split in two by an ax. I called out vigorously for help but none came. I could not understand why I had been brought to this place or even understand where or what this place was. I do remember someone saying something about this being the best for me. I guess they would know what is best for me better than I would know what is best for me.

I gazed in front of me as I laid in that bed that I felt like I was restrained in and saw a man lying in a bed across the aisle. He was staring straight up at the ceiling and mumbling aloud some disjointed voodoo sounding words.

I whispered to him, “Psst I didn’t understand what you said.”

Even though he was across the aisle and I was whispering I knew he could hear me. You see I learned to whisper at an airport. He did not lift his head to look at me but instead kept looking straight up at the ceiling and mumbling that strange incantation.

“I did not understand what you said.” I repeated.

He just kept mumbling the same strange words over and over. I will try to repeat them here and now. It sounded like “Dew cot toupee four door win supper time.” He just kept mumbling it over and over and over until a narrow thin female nurse came and gave him a shot of something that made him quickly go to sleep. Then she headed toward me and as I watched her approach two hefty men grabbed each of my arms and held me down. I did not try to struggle because I thought this all was just a dream anyway so why fight it. The svelte nurse, who I should tell you now had no features on her face that I could make out behind her white mask, took a needle and slid it into my arm like a hot knife through butter. She said something but her voice now sounded distant because of the shot. Although I could not understand her I did recognize her voice as the voice of one of my faraway revenant memories.

 

____________________________________________

 To get a Kindle version of the complete book please go here

"The Sanitarium View" Kindle Edition


To get a print edition on Amazon.com please go here

"The Sanitarium View" Print Edition

 

 

To find out more about my books please go to my Amazon.com.page

 

More Of My Books On Amazon.com

 

 

Or To Find More Of My Books Go To Barnes & Noble

 

My Books On Barnes & Noble

 

Or

 

Another One Of My Books On Barnes & Noble

 

And One More

 

On Barnes & Noble

 

 

 

 

My new sci-fi book is now on Amazon as a print book and for Kindle. And on Smashwords in many other formats. 

 

To read a sample please go here: Sample of "Alien Midnight"

 

 

To get a print or Kindle copy please go here: "Alien Midnight" on Amazon

 

 

To get it in diffrent formats please go here: "Alien Midnight" on Smashwords

It has been almost a year since my Mom passed away from cancer.

 

 

 

 

July 7^th 2012

It's getting closer to the day

The day that you went away

It isn't fair no it isn't right

You were taken away that night

Would you even come back if you could?

If you could I wonder if you would

My screams for help fall flat on the floor

I'm surrounded by the silence that I abhor

I repose in unrelenting unrest

As under the pecan tree you recess

 

Sometimes I expect to see you

Around the corner of my eyes I do

 

It isn’t you only a wishful dream

A past memory flicker that I glean

As time brutally pushes me along

It is hard to face the reality of you’re gone

 

 

-------------------------------------------

 

 

To find out more about my writings please go to my Amazon Author page

 

My Amazon Author Page

 

 

For Questions Or Comments Please Email Me

 

rogerharrisonenterprise@gmail.com