Life in the 1940s - the Chicken Man

Life in the United States in the 1940s

by Bill Russo

The chicken man came, driving a noisy station wagon painted in black

with squawking birds strutting in a compartment sectioned off in back.

To the sidewalk quickly she went, where she made a colorful choice

“I’ll take the lavender one, next to the red”, she proclaimed in a loud voice

Into the truck he went and grabbed the hen from which came a squeal.

Grandma passed two bits to the quick handed bird man to seal the deal.

To the back porch she made her way and whirled it high above her head

Squeezing its neck until the clucking, squawking pile of feathers was dead.

Those attachments she did pluck quickly, almost before the fade of the last cluck

of the lavender hen, who had stopped egg producton, and then ran out of luck

The last stop on the line for the strutters, squawkers, and squealers who are not able

Is to be surrounded by sauce, pasta, bread and wine on Grandma’s Sunday dinner table  

-0-

I am sorry if this post offends anyone.  But it was a different time.  We lived in the shadow
of a war in which 60 million people were killed.  Six million were exterminated in death camps.

It was common where I lived for people to get regular visits from the chicken man, as well as the ice man, the knife sharpener man, the milk man, and even the bakery man.

The Observer - a tale of bright light and deep darkness

From the Five Star Rated short story

by Bill Russo, here's the new audio/video 

adaptation of The Observer...

click the arrow to view the brief 25 minute fllm…..

Make, or Recall a Memory for Mom's Day

It is not a good idea to live in the past, but for those whose Mom has passed, it is a wonderful idea to visit it. Have a heart warming memory. For those who are lucky to have Mom still with you....make a wonderful memory this year that will last you a lifetime.

(C) Bill Russo 2019

A Cat Walks into a Tatto Parlor

(C) 2019 Bill Russo

A Cat Walks into a Chinese Food Restaurant.......

A car walks into a Bar...........................

(C) 2019 by Bill Russo

My Backyard Disappeared During an Eerie 3:30 A.M. Storm

The explosion that jarred me awake at half past three on the morning of May 3, 2019 was so powerful that it rattled the sliding glass doors leading to my patio and set off a string of car alarms in the parking lot in front of my condo building.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera from the top of my dresser as I ran by, and went out to the deck to take some pictures of one of the weirdest looking skies that I've ever seen.

Here's the first picture....

As you might judge from the palms, I'm in the beginning of the only tropics in the 48 adjacent United States, Lake Worth Florida.
On the right is a cluster of Palm Trees.  On the far left is a support post of my second floor balcony storm windows.  Adjacent to the post is a 100 foot tall Slash Pine that's likely 200 years old.  Brief, violent storms are fairly common in the area.  

But this one was a little more ferocious than most.  There was no chain lightning - it was all flash, but extremely bright and was rapidly following by ear crushing barrages of thunder.  

Here's the second picture, still nothing eerie, but it's coming.....

As I snapped this second shot through the patio screen a new explosion in the parking lot set off another car alarm.  Now, at ten minutes into the storm.  A cacophonic symphony of car horns was bashing my ears, and nobody else seemed to notice. I saw no lights in neighboring units and no one came running out in the night cloaked in yellow rain gear to shut off the roaring alarms.  

So far you've seen a depiction of a pretty nasty storm but nothing eerie or paranormal - though it does seem strange that no residents came out to shut off the car alarms.  Bear with me it's coming, but first take a look at what my back yard looks like during the day.  

On the right is the clump of Palm Trees.  To the left, although only one branch is visible from this angle, is the old Slash Pine Tree.  In the middle is a cluster of buildings including our maintenance facility, a large auditorium/function hall, a Billiard Parlor, library, card room, saunas and one of our swimming pool areas.  The auditorium is the pointy-roof structure behind the maintenance building.  The auditorium is a large room with seating for about 300 when set up for a general meeting.  It also accommodates a few hundred people for bingo or dinner events.  

Now, on to the weirdness.  In the third picture that I took, I can see the roof of the auditorium but everything else around it seems to have disappeared.  The pool area, the maintenance building, and others have vanished and are replaced by a phantom road straight through the middle of the picture!

The Palm cluster is still clearly visible to the right and the Slash Pine to the left, but in the middle of the photo is what appears to be a roadway that has swallowed up most of our recreation area!  

Here are my possible explanations:

1. Double Exposure/  Since I took the photos with a Nikon Digital camera, I think that rules out the possibility of the kind of trick photos that film cameras occasionally produced.

2. Stephen King lives here.  No, he still lives in Maine although if he were here he'd probably turn this into a best seller.  As for me, I don't know if it's weird, odd, or just a regular thunder storm.  I make no claims. I'm just putting it out there. 

-0-

Bill Russo May 5, 2019

All comments or questions will be answered.  Email me at Billrrrrr@yahoo.com  

What the schools never told you about Vegetarians

...that the world's biggest animals (elephants, rhinos, hippos, cows, horses, giraffes, whales etc. are all Vegetarians!

Beware: The Simian Sapiens are a little sick of the name calling and the bullying.....

Should you encounter a Simian-sapien you  might get away with calling him a Yeti.  But think twice before tossing out racist and bigoted terms like 'Abominable' and 'Bigfoot'.

(C) 2019 Bill Russo

After Comin' Round the Mountain, What Did She Say?

(C) 2019 - Bill Russo