He remembered the smokehouse outside his grandfather’s place. It stood next to the tool shed beside the little wagon barn. He and his cousin Cooter loved to play there best of all. His grandfather always yelled and swore if he caught them there, but that…
Gerald Cannon
45 Articles
I growed up po and ignant in Alabama. Then I went off to college and became a socialistic atheistic business school grad with an MBA. Not wanting to add evil capitalistic bastard to my resume, I obtained an antidote degree -the MFA. What a difference a letter makes. Now I teach college and make art. That's more fun and I'm less prone to drift toward the dark side. So, at the advanced age of sixty.... I have chosen mind over matter, joined the League of Defensive Pessimists and have no better answers, only fewer questions.
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
She was always called Birdy. The nickname arose partly from her looks. But, it also was because of her nervous ways. She flitted. No other word came close. Again this morning she was especially anxious. Every few minutes she looked through the screen of the…
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
He got up and cut the TV off. Nothing to see. He went out back to check on the dog. Ol’ Scotty still wasn’t eating much. It had been a week now and he still just lay there. “You probly gone up ‘n die on…
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
He had hunted here hundreds of times. These woods became his in grade school. He knew he would never leave them for long. The fading light added a quietness to the first chill of the coming winter. Now almost an after work ritual, these short…
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
He flipped the television on again. The cable box showed the time in big red numbers. Three-thirty-eight. He knew that there wasn’t anything to watch at this ungodly hour, but the noise and flickering images made him feel better. He thought about that for a…
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
He knew his mother would be very angry. How could he have lost a single brand new loafer? His heart was still racing. He was still trying to think of what he could have done different. He knew that everyone on the bus was pointing…
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
She rearranged the refrigerator again. It seemed almost impossible to keep the foot wide space in the center of the refrigerator clear of all food and containers from top to bottom. She kept telling the kids that the air couldn’t get through and that would cause the motor to quit working. She read all about it in the manual the day it was delivered. Still, kids never paid any attention.
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
She swept the yard every Saturday. The hard packed red clay had been swept so many times that the roots of the big oak were nearly a foot above the flat ground and snaked thirty feet down beside the house. It was easier work today….
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
She smiled politely as usual. The nicely dressed lady across from her smiled a tight smile back. Neither would make eye contact again before one was called into the office. That was the way it always was. You never knew who you’d wind up sitting…
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
The garage/workshop was filled with wonderful trash. Four hundred ballpoint pens in sparkle plastic that didn’t work. Eight hundred heavy-duty industrial coffee filters. Thirty pounds of defective acrylic balls for making plastic flower arrangements. Two hundred dowels from the closed down building supply. A large box of dolls eyes from god knows where.
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
How could he have known? It surely wasn’t his fault. For five years he had to beat the boy regular, and now this. He had always been the troublemaker. The other seven never gave much trouble. They always minded – especially after a good whipping….
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
Sitting on the tiny front porch, she looked out on a scene that had gone unchanged for almost forty-four years. New growth on the trees, a few more shrubs, and age enveloping poorly made houses that could not hide their faults. But, still the same.
Gerald Cannon
1 Min Read
It was his first trip out of the tiny town. He arrived early. He was nervous and a little afraid. He gave himself time to stop by the drug store. As usual he bought two little bottles of shoe polish. He already had the paper…