By Jim Bates
He was quiet that fall. Withdrawn. He’d started classes in a new grade at a new school. Old friends were drifting away. He couldn’t help it, but he felt sad much of the time. He didn’t know why.
He took to walking in the nearby woods after school. He found, surprisingly, that he liked the feeling of aloneness, of being by himself with his thoughts, mulling things over and thinking…
By Jim Bates
Twenty years ago, during the spring of the 2020 lockdown, Mom announced, “We are planting a garden.”
I was thirteen and my brother Jay was nine so, of course, we complained, me being the loudest, “Aw, Mom. No!”
“What, you’d rather play video games?”
Well, yeah, of course, but I couldn’t say that. Instead, I just moped until she said, “And no moping either.” She gave me a look…