After Dinner Conversation: After Dinner Conversation Magazine, #10

By Deb Rogers, Mark Braidwood, Charles Williams and 4 more

"After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - April 2021

• Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast: A quaint suburban couple rob their dying neighbor to settle an old score.
• Reach: A businessman travels to China to find the factory worker that left a curious poem in his child's Chrimstas present.
• Take-Em!: A father invites his liberal son to go duck hunting for quality time.
• The Angel In The Juniper: Holly meets an angel who tells her to kill her revolutionary professor.
• On Our Hands: An elderly woman tries to hold her family together as emotions heat up over populist politics.
• All Harriet's Pieces:  A young girl faces the death of her mother and the loss of her closest companion.
• Ruddy Apes And Cannibals: An expanding empire bumps into a remote island of civilized cannibals.

After Dinner Conversation believes humanity is improved by ethics and morals grounded in philosophical truth.  Philosophical truth is discovered through intentional reflection and respectful debate. In order to facilitate that process, we have created a growing series of short stories, audio and video podcast discussions, across genres, as accessible examples of abstract ethical and philosophical ideas intended to draw out deeper discussions with friends and family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: After Dinner Conversation
• Release date: Mar 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201739799

Book preview

After Dinner Conversation Magazine – April 2021

This magazine publishes fictional stories that explore ethical and philosophical questions in an informal manner. The purpose of these stories is to generate thoughtful discussion in an open and easily accessible manner.

Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The magazine is published monthly in electronic format.

All rights reserved. After Dinner Conversation Magazine is published by After Dinner Conversation in the United States of America. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Abstracts and brief quotations may be used without permission for citations, critical articles, or reviews. Contact the publisher for more information at [e-mail]

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ISSN# 2693-8359      Vol. 2, No. 4  

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Copyright © 2021 After Dinner Conversation

Editor-In-Chief:  Kolby Granville | Acquisitions Editor:  Viggy Parr Hampton

Design, layout, and discussion questions by After Dinner Conversation Magazine.

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https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com

Table Of Contents

From the Publisher

Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast

Reach

Take-em!

The Angel In The Juniper

On Our Hands

All Harriet’s Pieces

Ruddy Apes And Cannibals

Additional Information

From The Editor

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From the Publisher

AFTER DINNER CONVERSATION believes humanity is improved by ethics and morals grounded in philosophical truth.  Philosophical truth is discovered through intentional reflection and respectful debate. In order to facilitate that process, we have created a growing series of short stories, audio and video podcast discussions, across genres, as accessible examples of abstract ethical and philosophical ideas intended to draw out deeper discussions with friends, family, and students.

ENJOY THESE SHORT STORIES?  Purchase our print anthologies, After Dinner Conversation Season One, Season Two, and Season Three.  They are collections of our best short stories published in the After Dinner Conversation series complete with discussion questions.

SUBSCRIBE TO THIS MONTHLY magazine for $1.95/month or $19.95/year and receive it every month!

Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast

Deb Rogers

I WATCHED MY WIFE LEAVE our neighbor’s house, her empty hands shoved deep in the pockets of her red anorak. She came inside through our carport. I met her in our kitchen.

Beverly was really happy for the soup, she said. Honestly, it was a little sad. She said no one else has brought food, and he’s going to hospice tomorrow. It’s really bad, and no one, not one single person, has reached out to her.

Just what I thought. I have been watching my neighbor’s house from my living room chair on and off for at least two years now. William and Beverly have a simple 3/2 ranch that is the mirror image of ours, except William let his yard go to pot and I’ve kept mine up, even with my back shot to hell the way it is. I owe it to my family to take care of things. I owe it to my neighborhood. But not William. Well, what can you expect from a guy who let his daughter do prison time for selling drugs when he was the guy running the scheme? If you’re a man who is weak enough to do that, you don’t want to show your face outside to trim the hedges, and you also aren’t going to have many friends to lean on during your last days alive.

My wife confirmed what I already knew. I was pretty sure William was down to his last week or two because nurses had started to visit twice a day. Everything will happen fast now. Death and disaster are like ambush predators. They wait, and then before you know it, their work is done.

My wife washed her hands.

I think Beverly truly was very moved by the gesture, she said. My wife tidied the kitchen as she spoke, weaving like a pollinating bee.  She’s been holed up in there with him for how long now since Tamara’s arrest and whatever deal he took. I don’t feel sorry for Beverly, because she made her choices, but then again, I kind of do, because she’s stuck with him. I wonder if she’ll sell the house?

She should. I told you, they have no friends, no life. They never leave the house, not for church or nothing anymore. If I were her, I’d sell everything and move closer to the prison. At least visit Tamara now and then. At least that.

My wife kicked the gas up to heat the big pot of simmering soup. We always have a nice supper before I go to work.

Beverly didn’t say anything about Tamara. She also didn’t ask me about Kate at any length. She said, ‘I hope Kate’s doing well.’ Which isn’t a question. To which I wanted to say, ‘she is, but no thanks to your family,’ but I didn’t.

Anyway, you did good, honey. There’s a nip in the air, anyone would be happy for a bowl of soup tonight. And tomorrow, he leaves. You did good.

I went ahead and called in sick for the night, just to be sure I was home in time to see William vacated from his house. Just to be sure I was rested.

The information was accurate. The very next morning, just as I was sitting down with my coffee, a transport ambulance slinked into their driveway and the guys walked slowly into the house. I watched carefully. It took them so long that at one point I thought they might have been working on an emergency, but eventually they proved me wrong, lumbering out with William on a gurney. He was off of my street forever.

I poured a second cup of coffee. I got dressed, putting on my yard clothes. I almost put on my trusty old work boots, but I grabbed the sneakers instead. Then I went back to my chair. I thought I might have to stand watch until after lunch, but Beverly left soon enough in her gold Chrysler. Just as I predicted. I knew she would follow him to hospice as soon as possible. Beverly was going to stick by his side until the very end.

It’s go time! I roared.

Try to stay calm. Do you have your phone? My wife was, as ever, the finest arrow: strong, flexible, determined.

I thumped my chest pocket.

I don’t know if any of my other neighbors watch our street like I do. I don’t think so—they’re all gone most workdays. But if anyone caught sight of me, what they would have seen was my rake, my thick gloves crammed in a back pocket, and my plaid shirt collar poking above my work jacket. My