American Chimpanzee

as featured in Desert Exposure Magazine    RaisingDad by Jim and Henry Duchene Another Four Stories “let sleeping angels lie”   When my granddaughter was four-years-old we were driving back from a road trip and she was asleep in her car seat. She looked like an angel, her hair a delicate tangle of curls. She was perspiring the way children sometimes do when they slumber.  Suddenly, she startled awake. “Are you okay?” I asked her. She looked around, slow to take in her surroundings. “I dreamt my hair was on fire,” she finally told me. “Well, you’re safe now,” I assured her. After a few seconds I dipped a toe into the water. “You woke up pretty quick,” I said. She nodded. “You wake up fast when your hair’s on fire,” she told me. I guess you do. Now my granddaughter is eight, and she’s a pretty bright kid (she gets it from me). She’s back at school and was telling me they were teaching her about fire safety. She had learn...

  The Tell-Tale Trump by Stephen King as told to Jim Duchene    You’re right, you’re right. I’m nervous–very nervous–but crazy?       I only wish I were.      You see, I’ve always found Donald Trump entertaining, in a monkey playing the accordion kind of way, but I never thought he’d be president. Then he stole the election, the only known instance of that ever happening.      I could live with that. I bore him no ill will. It was only four years, after all. How much damage could he do?      But his tweets!      They drove me nuts!      No, not nuts. Not nuts. I’m not nuts. I swear I’m not.       Soon, you might say, I became obsessed with Trump and his hellish tweets. Obsessed isn’t the same as insane, is it?      Of course not.      Every ...

  as featured in Desert Exposure Magazine RaisingDad by Jim and Henry Duchene Four More Stories “not one to be chastised”   I had an 8 o’clock appointment.      It was on the other side of town, so I left early to avoid rush hour traffic. Too early, as it turned out, because I got there with a lot of time to kill. A LOT of time. Stopping at a local coffee shop, I asked for their Wi-Fi password.     "Buy something first," the owner told me.     I thought that was kind of blunt, but fair enough. After paying for my order, I laughed when I read the password on the receipt.  It said: "BuySomething1st!”     You see, my friends, technology is for the young.     I might have a smartphone, but I don't really know how to use it. If I do ten percent of what my phone is capable of, I'd be surprised.      The other day, I forgot my phone as I left the...