John Marlowe

I know that I tend to be hard on myself. Too hard, really. But honestly, there are times when I feel like on the road of life, I can’t find my way out of the rest park. There was a time when I thought I had it all figured out. Just do nice things for…

The child’s frenzied shriek pierced the summer afternoon dullness. It supercharged the epinephrine in my bloodstream until my legs involuntarily sprang from the kneehole of my desk, and sent me hurtling toward the children’s play area behind the house next door. The incessant shrill, now coming from more than one child, brought me to despair.…

I was watching the Science Channel the other day. On most occasions I skip past the channel quickly, because I understand relatively little about what they are discussing. I think that’s what is known as The Theory of Relativity. I was flipping through the channels during commercials, and I had become somewhat disoriented. I thought…

My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Collins, mistakenly thought that anyone who hammed it up as much as I did must also be a good actor. I was cast all too frequently to suit me in the lead roles of our fourth-grade pageants. I don’t know why we had so many pageants in the fourth grade. A…

It happens about this time every year. Despite meaning well and good intentions, I’ve again become the neighborhood pariah. Situated smack dab between the two-story modern with the terraced wall and the wrap-around deck to my west, and the venerable ranch on the east, with the two stately oaks in front and the neatly trimmed…

Lilian Jackson Braun was an American novelist, who was famous for writing cozy mysteries. Cozy mysteries are a sub-genre. Some readers like them, because all of the sex happens “off stage,” leaving a more comfortable reading experience. All of Ms. Braun’s bestselling stories have titles that begin “The Cat Who . . .” For example,…

Two weekends ago, I was over at my brother Ben’s house dog sitting. Sophie is part French Bulldog, part Tasmanian Devil. Teddy is the most laid back long-haired Dachshund you’ll ever meet. If not for Sophie’s constant running and general chaos, Teddy would gladly just sit still in the corner and do his dust-mop impression.…

For more than a year now, I’ve been having a conversation with my two younger half-brothers and their families. It has the same general theme –– time to reign in the spending, cut the personal debt and stash away every extra dollar you can. “I’ve seen it all before,” I say, with a certain amount…

His warning shattered the predawn tranquility. I couldn’t see him, but his cry blasted through the fading fog like the air horn on an 18-wheeler, traveling too fast to stop in time for a red light. “Wait!” he said. “Don’t pull that handle!” Too late. I had already squeezed the trigger at the end of…

Wouldn’t you know it! I’ve forgotten Evan’s last name. It really aggravates me, because Evan is very important to me. He brings me food. Every Sunday, while young parents and kids are pulling into Applebee’s for that special after-church meal, or while grandpa and grandma saunter into the cafeteria for “mush food” (chewing is optional),…