Worthing Flash

Flash Memoir by Michael Field Sitting on a barstool by the fireplace looking out at the snowscape, I am savoring the velvety smoothness of my second O’Ascutney. It is St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and the bartender has spiked my favorite liquor, Bailey’s Irish Cream, with an additional shot of Irish Whiskey. I don’t feel it now but will when I stand up. As I unwind, I think back. My day, then my life, scrolls backwards as if a projector had been left on while the film rewound. My mother is in a nursing home, and I might have to abort this weekend’s outing to be at her bedside. Nursing home aides have a way of knowing when death is near. I didn’t carpool on this afternoon’s drive from Connecticut to Vermont so I could jump in the car should the dreaded call come. I don’t know how to ski but I signed up for Emily’s ‘Weekends To Go’ cross-country skiing trip because other outings with her turned out to be fun. Plus, my coworker, Harry, said he is coming with his girlfriend, Maggie. Al...

Addicted By Michael Field My wife complains that I am addicted to the internet, especially Facebook, saying I am self-destructively doomscrolling. I protest that I am not addicted, I can stop anytime! It is just that my friends reside in there. Yes! My friends convene in Facebook - along with some fascinating strangers. And a host of not so interesting strangers. And pitiful people who desperately need their grammar and spelling corrected. Oh! There are scores of obnoxious pontificators whose views infuriate me until my cursor heads for the X. Then, one of my friends likes one of my posts and the cycle repeats!

I Am That Old Flash Memoir by Michael Field What does it mean to be old? How do you measure aging? Using years is common, or maybe decades like marking birthdays with a 0 at the end of them. I am the youngest of three boys so, as a middle-aged adult, relativity to my relatives provided me with a barrier to feeling old. However, both my brothers are now in their 80s; thus, I am younger than ancient which is not so comforting! Eschewing metrics to measure age, some people mark milestone events such as the first presidential election they voted in. I turned 21 in 1972, just in time for Nixon vs. McGovern. I was from a staunch Republican family but had become an anti-war activist in college. A vote for either candidate would have been a betrayal of my newly forged values. Away at college, I requested an absentee ballot and voted write-in for then Senator Ed Muskie who represented my home state of Maine. Muskie’s campaign had been sabotaged by a political trick, a forged letter. Then, w...