I couldn’t believe my ears, but there it was, out in the open, and we all heard it. If you’ve seen the movie, A Christmas Story, with you’ll-shoot-your-eye-out Ralphie, then you know there’s no getting around a triple-dog dare. Harold had no choice but to follow through, no matter the consequence. This was the early…

For some, I am told, high school days are the best in your life. My experiences were to the contrary. I did a lot of running those six years, grades seven through twelve, often passing the track team, clearly identified by their gym garb. I was in my street clothes running, not for sport, but…

I was sixteen when the Greyhound bus crossed the New York State line. My sister, fourteen, sat next to me. Up to that point we had never traveled more than fifty miles from our home town. It was to be an epic journey. A trip had been planned along the California coast, from Los Angeles…

I had forgotten all about that outstanding arrest warrant until the state trooper pulled up behind my car and turned on his lights. I had driven to Pennsylvania from New York to visit a girl. When I got into town I called her house. Her mother answered. Her mother hated me. I told her who…