Tales from the Strange Mind of Me

Ok I have no idea what happened but I updated the cover photo to be shown here and it messed everything up. lucky me right. So I guess if you want to see what the cover of my ebook is you can find it on the Book Cover page. I will put the excerpt back and give you another teaser from another story in Tales from the Strange Mind of Me

Jamie O’Brien

The morning sun shone through the trees bringing with it the warmth of a new day. Dogs ran over the grass, some being chased by their owners others chasing something else, a cat or a squirrel and even another dog or two. Young lovers strolled along the path arm in arm. Every once in a while they would stop under some low hanging branches to steal a kiss or two before returning to the path. The pigeons trying to get at the breadcrumbs left for them as children and adults came walking or bicycling by. Impromptu baseball games were beginning all over the park it was early summer and the bean ball season was well under way. Those that could afford it were at the games. Those who could not played it in the parks. If there was no park near their house they would be in the streets playing a version of the game as best as they could. Those that had a radio or TV would be glued to it every game day. Ah, the sweet life, how could one not want to be a part of it?

Birds were signing as they flew by. Leaves rusted with each breeze, yet some in this world care not what goes on about them. It is to those that are so wrapped up in getting somewhere that we spend our lives listening to, go figure.

Somewhere in the crowd the old man sat and watched as the young children played at their games. His mind wandered back through the years remembering as far into his memories as he could. To a time when he was a small boy, granted his memory was a bit fuzzy from age….

“Jamie,” a voice called “Jamie O’Brien get yerself doon oudda dat tree ‘afore ya break yer neck! Get home now it be time to eat!”

The old man’s head dropped slowly to his chest, the breeze through the trees seemed to stop but for a second….

Jamie began to slowly climb down from the tree.
“Oh all right Ma!” he said almost disgusted with the fact that he had to get down. Jamie loved to climb trees and whatever else he could. He would try to climb the side of a building if he could get a handhold.
“I told you, you shouldn’t climb that tree,” called a voice from behind him.

Jamie looked about puzzled at first. He turned around and looked into the eyes of a little girl. He didn’t know who it was at first, and then it came to him. The voice belonged to his little sister Shannon….

The old man jerked his head up, and as his eyes fluttered open, he looked around quickly. His eyes closed again as a tear formed in the corner of his right eye. His head drooped slowly back down to his chest. His eyes stayed closed as the sun dipped behind a cloud….

“Shut up you little jerk.” Jamie said in return. “You said no such thing and you know it.”
His sister stuck out her tongue, turned and ran away.

Here is another excerpt from the story:
A Walk in the Park

The sun braved its way between the buildings as it rose and struck the green trees and grass of the park. Morning slipping by as the couple lay out on the blanket in what they hoped would be a semi-shaded spot all day. She held his hand as she sat between his legs with her back against his chest. Her mind was a whirl of thoughts as to why he had brought her there. None of them seemed to add up, although there was always the chance; no that was too painful to even contemplate.

Instead she forced herself to think only of how their life had been up to that point. It wasn’t so bad really even though there were so many things that they had never gotten around to doing. Life just seemed to be passing by them one year at a time since they had been married. His life was full of work; her life was full of him, even that morning had begun just as it had every morning before.

Waking up an hour before sunrise as he had every day since leaving college he would shower and leave their home quickly, but on this day he went to her bedside and sat staring at his wife as she slept. Trying to remember what had happened to the young beautiful wife that he remembered. She looked so different as if she wasn’t the same person anymore. He was sure that he had not divorced the woman he had fallen in love with just out of high school, he swore that he would have remembered that part, had that happened. No, he was sure this was the same woman he’d fallen in love with. It had been a couple of years since the two of them shared the same bed, he had forgotten why they split rooms, they just had one day and neither seemed mind.

He had not had an affair and he believed that she had not either. Their lives just seemed to have gotten the better of them or maybe it was just his. He had taken her with him when he went off to college and while she made their tiny third floor walkup home, he pursued his life goal. He took a part time job nights and weekends to help with their way of life. She offered to work in those early days, but he had always told her that he wouldn’t hear of it. Even though they weren’t married yet, he had felt that if she worked her family would have looked at him as a failure. While his father paid his tuition, he had refused to pay for an apartment off campus. For this, his Grandfather offered to help but he wanted to make a life for them on his own. He found a job at a restaurant washing dishes after classes, and waiting tables on the weekends. It was about this time that he unknowingly began his work ethic of never being home. As his college career excelled so did his career at the restaurant, by his second year he was offered a manager’s position that he was tempted to take, but turned it down. He justified it by telling the owners that he would be of more use to them if he finished his studies. By the end of his second year, he had doubled up his courses so that he could graduate early hoping that he could take his fourth year off and spend it with her.