April 24, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local Fiction & Poetry Edition

Five Favors
By Horace Deacon, Roxborough

My father is going to die — “a last stage cancer patient” said the woman doctor – but not in any damn hospital said I, exercising my new power of attorney and my interpretation of his living will. So I had his 76-year-old body ambulanced back to the house, carried up to the four-poster – where Mother had said I was conceived — and cared for by nurses around the clock, expecting that he would be gone in a few days. But he hung in there.

The 65-Year-Old Man
Talks to the Social Worker
by MARK GOODMAN, Mt. Airy

I want to work —

Too young to retire,

But you’re the last one hired

Missing in Action
by SUSAN PIZZANO
from her collection “Boomerang”

My brother thought that he had found a solution

            to the problem of me missing my senior prom

            because you were in Vietnam.

Pet Wars
By Ralph G. Wellington, Chestnut Hill

It’s fair to say we were not raised in a pet-friendly house. I always blamed our mother. She had minimal tolerance for children and no use for other small animals. But with the wisdom of years, I have a new theory. She was protecting potential pets from Dad.

Five Seconds on the R-7
by MARVIN THALL, Chestnut Hill

Focus, said my muse,
on the first five seconds
on your home-bound SEPTA train.

Neglected Gate
by RUTH STEHLE, Flourtown

You stand dejected,

Like a bent old man —

Your hinges creaking