The author is a little old man who lives with his editor Sharon and cat Katzhaber. After working in mathematics he retired to write, hike, snow shoe and volunteer. He has a hundred or so things published in several countries.
https://sites.google.com/site/aberrantword/
https://doug.car.blog/
Scenes
Previously appeared in the defunct AWS and Down In The Dirt
Eight year old Duke Hanley is humiliated when his mother tells him “You’re eight years old and wetting the bed. Maybe you should wear diapers.” The PE teacher says “Sorry nobody picked you for either team. Why don’t you swing until our game is over? Duke swings for a half an hour and then looks wistfully at the ball game where the other boys are screaming and laughing. Duke asks pretty Janice to the eighth grade mixer. Janice says “I can’t dance with you; you are four inches shorter than I am.” Next, he tries the short, 200 pound Rita. “Listen Duke, I know what you are thinking – since we are both losers, we should go together. I’m not a loser, but you are. You might be surprised to know that the class president has already asked me, and I’ve accepted. You think that I’m so fat, no one would be interested in me, but I’ve got two words for you ‘chubby chaser’. You might be surprised how many there are. Now ask yourself, has anybody ever been a ‘short seeker’? I don’t think so.” At home, Duke goes to his room and cries a river. The day of the mixer he goes to the science club meeting, but hears and says nothing. Duke misses most of his first year in high school with mononucleosis. While stuck at home he isn’t visited by anyone outside his family, and his family largely ignores him. As a sophomore he is behind in all of his subjects and friendless. He doesn’t even try to socialize. No one knows or cares who he is. Because there is no money for college and he doesn’t qualify for a scholarship, he takes the only job he can as a short order cook. The pay is so low that has to live in a small, filthy apartment. He mostly eats the greasy, salty food from the place he works, only because it is free. As a result, he becomes fat and develops sickly looking skin. After he had worked at the diner for a couple of years, he noticed an attractive woman about his age had been coming in for a couple of months. He was greatly surprised when she intercepted him after work one day. She looked very upset when she told him “My name is Jane. I’m a widow with two kids. I got married very young and three years later my husband died in a car accident. I don’t want them to grow up without a father. All the guys I have met in this town have no interest in a relationship, they just want into my pants. I know this will seem off the wall, but I’ve talked to people who say that you are a great guy. Is there any chance that you would want a readymade family? You don’t have to love me, but help me raise Jody and Julia.” Against all reason, Duke is overwhelmed with the chance to at last have some happiness. He can’t believe that he could be so lucky or that someone had something good to say about him after his life of misery, but wants to believe. “Jane, I’d love a readymade family, but I’m barely scraping by myself. How could the four of us survive?” “I’m making a modest living as a secretary. Between the two of us, we could get by with our combined incomes.” A month later they are married. His first ever attempt at sex goes poorly, but Jane says “Never mind, I’m content with companionship.” Duke doesn’t try again. A month later Duke picks up the phone to make a call and hears a man’s voice on the line “Did you get the life insurance policy? I’ve got the accident arranged.” Jane responds “All ready Frank.” Duke hangs up. Jane comes into his rooms and asks “Were you listening in? I thought you were sleeping. “Yeah, I heard the plan. You really were going to kill me for insurance money?” “Duke get real. Don’t you think that I could get somebody better than you? How could you be so dense not to see the setup? Anyhow, no harm, no foul. You have nothing on me, and now that you know what’s up, I’ll just cut you loose and move on. Don’t even think about ratting me out, if you do, I’ll say it’s the raving of a loser.” After the divorce, the years pass slowly and painfully for Duke. It gets back to him that Jane, Julia and Jody take every opportunity to dump on him. In his forties, Duke has a tough time climbing stairs. His doctor tells him that he needs an operation on his heart. Duke is so scared that he shakes uncontrollably. Duke walks into a dark room. He sits on a very comfortable sofa and hears his favorite music. He feels a happiness that he has never known before. A lot of friendly people welcome him and tell him how happy they are that he joined them. For the first time Duke feels happy and at peace. Doctor Brooks says “Call it 12:30. His heart was just too weak to survive the operation. The strange thing is he seemed to be dreaming. I could tell from his rapid eye movement. Or is it possible that his life flashed before his eyes? I never have believed in it, but maybe it happened to him. If so, it must have been a horrible life. He looked miserable from the moment we put him under, but just before we lost him he started to smile. Weird.