Short Shorts

By Dave Mandel

A collection of life's vignettes, SHORT SHORTS takes fast and funny glimpses at who and where and what we've been from a writer who has been many things in many places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dave Mandel
• Release date: Jan 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310872952

Dave Mandel

Born in New York City, grew up in California, spent special years in Canada, have seen great things and sad. We never cease to be what we have ve been, as we become more -- or less. I am a professional musician/recording artist, city planner, landscape architect, college teacher, contractor, writer, ditch-digger, truck-driver, cook, and bum. The last is the hardest to do well: as society conditions us from infancy to be increasingly productive, we find guilt-free relaxation only with increasing difficulty.

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Short Shorts

By Dave Mandel

Smashwords Edition

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®™

A Hardup Press Tome El Cerrito, California

Copyright 2014 David Mandel

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Per international copyright law, this ebook may not be copied, re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy.

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CONTENTS

the cuckoo

S'tar beach

the time before life

Leather and ice

goldens bridge hortus

All illustrations are by the author or are in the public domain, unless otherwise credited herein.

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The Cuckoo

The clock was supposed to have a history, not create one. An obscure object of desire comes into your world because you’re normal and like to fulfill your desires. The object, upon arrival, should fulfill its role without bringing you grief. Unless you’re a masochist.

Jana’s family has a sensible upcountry approach to surprises: NO.

As in, I saw this really cute jacket at N_________. Oh, would you like that for your birthday? Oh, ok, yeah, we could do that. And off they go together to buy the chosen happy-maker, to be delivered gift-wrapped but known on the special day. No surprises.

So I had been slowly indoctrinated into the family’s gift scheme of life, and considered it ok if not necessarily normal when Jana first relayed how they had had a cuckoo clock back in some vague mini-epoch called when I was little and that she wouldn’t mind having one again. This piece of information reappeared a few times before I decided that I’d fulfill the wish on some not-so-distant-as-to-be-rude birthday or Christmas or Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning: there’s this magic drawer. And