Understanding

By Timothy M Nugent

I hope you enjoy this book. I hope you enjoy it so much that you look at my other books: Odes to Life and Love, Passages from Her Cards, and Travels with the Wildman Volumes 1 and 2. I am working on two more books: Fishing in the USA and Travels with the Wildman Volume 3.

You can buy these books online: www.xlibris.com/odestolifeandlove.html and www.xlibris.com/TimothyM.Nugenthtml.

Thank you! Enjoy life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503574250

Timothy M Nugent

Hello, my friends! My name is Timothy M Nugent. I am an author and poet, and this is my first book of short stories. I took excerpts from my poems and made them into short stories. “Short Stories by Timothy M Nugent will be my eleventh book published by Xlibris Self-publishing company. I live in Costa Rica, and I am enjoying PURA VIDA. My Girlfriend, Corina and I and our two puppies, LuLu and LaLa, hope you enjoy my Books. May you enjoy a great life. Buy my Books at understanding-online.com.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Timothy M. Nugent.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/29/2015

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Contents

1. Introduction

2. Belated Happy Birthday

3. Coming of Age

4. Fell from the Sky

5. Helpless

6. It Came to Pass

7. Make Me Understand

8. Morning Fog

9. New Year

10. Onions

11. Senseless

12. The Blond-haired, Blue-eyed Little Boy

13. The Card

14. The Quiet Little Boy

15. The Vigilance

16. The Walker

17. The Wall

18. Willy the Wise

19. Hugs and Love

20. The Cattle Call

21. Hurry Up, Spring

22. Worrisome

23. I Love You

24. Balloons

25. My Love

26. Parker

27. Thunder and Lightning

28. An Uneasy Quiet

29. Did I Forget to Say

30. Differences

31. Feelings

32. Laughter

33. Retired

34. She Kissed Me Once

35. The Backyard

36. The Dance

37. The Sanctuary

38. The Seagull’s Flight

39. The Seagulls

40. The Yellow Document

41. Colorado

42. The Movie

43. Liberty

44. Lost

45. Music

46. Overwhelming

47. Quietly Snoring

48. Signs of the Times

49. Speaking Your Mind

50. The Child

51. The Dark

52. The Dream

53. The Full Moon

54. The Grassy Knoll

55. The Hammock

56. Cruelty of Man

57. Daylight Saving Time

58. Tenacity

59. Thankful

60. The Age of Recall

61. The Dark 2

62. The Faraway Star

63. The Heart

64. The Old Man

65. The Quiet Man

66. Who Am I

67. The Harley Birds

68. The Chess Player

69. A Thousand Kisses

70. An Awakening

71. Christmas Wishes

72. Dad

73. I Can’t Imagine

74. My Three Gals

75. Older Sister

76. Silence

77. It’s a Shame

78. The Door 2

79. The Pups

80. The Toy

81. Two Face

82. Indian Ball

83. Beginning of the Day

84. Between Night and Day

85. Blue Sky, Gray Clouds

86. Cigars and Johnnie Walker Red

87. Clichés

88. Days of Old

89. Death

90. Den of Memories

91. Friendship

92. Hello

93. Holiday

94. I Used to Be a Plastic Bottle

95. In the Quiet

96. Lala and the Squirrel

97. Long Winter

98. Love

99. Lulu and Lala 2

100. Misunderstood

101. Mother’s Day

102. Oblivious

103. Old Ladies and Their Dogs

104. Old

105. One-punch Heroes

106. Pain 2

107. The Backyard Track

108. People 2

109. Survival

110. The Argument

111. The Dog Park

112. The Game

113. The Grower

114. The Growl

115. The Lady in Blue

116. The Little Old Lady Who Lived All Alone

117. The Man in His Car

118. The Man

119. The Pacific Coast

120. The Pups 2

121. The Two Poodles

122. The Weekender

123. The Wind

124. Tonight

125. Very Dark

126. Wagging Tails

127. What Do You Have to Give

128. Costa Rica

129. The Costa Rican Lady

130. New Harmony

131. The House

132. Conclusion

Introduction

Understanding is a difficult process. I do not understand the human course of life, such as cruelty of the mentally challenged. Those people who are different seem to scare human beings. Nerds get bullied, and those less intelligent get mentally abused by nerds and by those with reasonable intelligence.

I used those terms in the previous paragraph because I cannot differentiate between people and human beings. After all, are we not the same? Is life boring if we are? I read somewhere (I cannot remember where) that the American Indian believed that everyone was taken care of in the tribe. Shouldn’t we do the same?

I recently became a proud owner of two puppies, Schitzuweiners puppies with a lot of energy. At twelve weeks old, we began to take them for walks. At home, they are completely comfortable with children, old folks, and just about anybody. Outside the home during our walks, they are frisky, courageous, yet cautious with strangers. If people come up to us in a friendly manner, the dogs are friendly and welcoming. If you skulk around, the dogs will bark and growl.

Once they understand you, they accept you. Why can’t we do the same thing? I have become calmer since we got the puppies. I have learned to look more closely and accept people are different. I had a brother who had polio and another that was mentally challenged. I saw the evil that was perpetrated against them. It made me unreasonable and protective.

I write about these things in the hope that my poetry will help people think about being more human than people, that we are one race—the human race. I hope you enjoy my poetry and have better understanding.

Thank you.

Timothy M. Nugent

Belated Happy Birthday

Thank you for our wonderful week.

The ride, I must admit, was unique.

Freezing cold,

You were bold.

You took in stride

Our shivering ride.

We made it home in twelve hours,

Unpacked and took warm showers,

Snuggled in bed throughout the night,

Comfortable as we held each other tight.

We did the movies and stayed in,

Just the two of us in our lovers’ den.

The next day we took a short ride,

You on the back hugging my sides,

Through the hills and trees,

Doing whatever we please,

Followed the river for a short time,

Headed to town so we could dine,

Stopped at Red Robin for a turkey wrap,

Enjoying the precious time we had.

I love you. Happy Birthday.

Coming of Age

It was nineteen fifty-eight,

An age where I began to relate.

I was nine years old, and my world began to blossom.

I began to notice women and their bosoms.

Funny things were happening with my body.

I was afraid to ask anybody.

Girls began to be fun and exciting.

With my sisters, there was less fighting.

My friends were oblivious;

All they wanted to do was be mischievous,

You know, put poop in paper bags at front doors,

Light them for laughs galore.

For them, girls were an afterthought.

For me, I wanted to be taught

What made girls grow into women

And what excited them.

I was a shy boy;

It was easier to avoid,

Get to close, and I wanted to explore.

I guess I was a quiet bore.

Soon my father would see

The