Affair

They were in the same restaurant where they had their first date. A family-owned place, the same hostess still there. What an unexpected treat, the wife thought.
   "Well, Angel, what can I say? Here we are twenty years later, married, but I'll never forget that first night here, you that sexy twenty-something that made my head spin and toes curl in the back of my dad's Cadillac."
His wife whispered, "Hun, that memory of yours. I went home sick that night and you were so concerned that we ran right out of here and you even had to come back to pay the bill.  There was no toe-curling that first night." 
The husband smiled and held his wife's hand. He winked at the true intention of his toast. The hostess winked back at him.
©2011 John Paul Mahofski

Typical Reasons for Quiet Storms

Everything in moderation the professor giggled putting down his sociological study on the affect of Bones Thugs-N-Harmony's song '1st of Tha Month' on PhD's dissertation topics, and turned on the Oscars. This was the equivalent to the Superbowl for the non academics and he wasn't going to miss it. He opened his overpriced planner and jotted notes on the ambiance and outfits for tomorrows inevitable conversations. He ate hard cheese and pretended it was him. He fed on it and swallowed it. In da cold rainy world many huddled ignored the glamour show and waited for the 1st of tha month. A quiet storm.

Wealth

The two men attended the Symphony despite the fact that neither cared for that particular genre of music or bow ties.
"They say music and food are more pretentious the more successful you become," the waiter handed the two bearded men small plates and announced- tiny sweet legume salsa, finely chopped and whipped until creamy, and seasonal fruit compote on petite 9-grain house-baked bread.
The waiter curtsied to the two new socialites, lottery winners from the Powerball, both former night clerks at a supermarket.
"I think this is just Peanut Butter and Jelly Sam. The one man told the other as they chewed with their mouths closed and ease dropped on IMPORTANT people discussing diminished chords during intermission.
The ambiance, the people, the food, the wine, the good life. The two men soaked it all in like a wet rich sponge. All the while missing bowling and Little Debbie's.

1986 Remembered

He put on some hip-hop and they moved to it while he drove his borrowed station wagon. After a dinner at the Olive-Garden, which he had saved up for with his money from his job at Taco-Bell; he put on some slow jams, and they drove holding nervous hands and feeling closer.
He opened her car door, kissed her dark, sweet cheek, and watched her get into the house. Her father watched him watching his angel from a dusty window in their living room, his arms were folded with reluctance.
The boy swallowed hard, got back into his borrowed station wagon, and felt great- after the perfect first date.

Success

The man sped into his driveway, jumped out of his inexpensive Dodge Neon, and rushed into his home declaring, "Honey! I did it! I did it!"
His wife rushed down the affordable homes worn wooden steps, and without so much as a word she kissed her husband so hard he buckled like a teenage boy with a crush.
"I marched into her office and looked her straight in the eye and said, Mrs. Copes I'm done with the night sweats, anxiety, and overall feeling of inadequacy that this job represents. So I quit."
His wife smiled, proud of her pudgy, unthreatening, not much in the bedroom husband.

Her newly unemployed husband.

Her uneducated, unemployed, half-ass, lazy, aluminum siding salesman, husband.

She ran upstairs weeping.
"Honey?? Honey?? What's for dinner? Any sports on? Can we make love tonight?"

Life Sentences in America

There is a man or a woman in a Prison dying
and not yet 60.
They are laying on a cheap bed afraid and alone
they came to prison to young to still have people
They have cancer now or something.
and it is eating at them-
devouring their tiny rotten bones.
On the highways outside of their dark walls
people sometimes talk about them
when they drive past the barbed wire.
Say things like "Life means life, no good bastards."
"Could you imagine spending your life there?"
"Let us pray for them"
"Fuck them."
Or maybe they don't mention them
No matter
Inside the man and woman will die.

A Love Story

"I'm in love with you," the attractive, energetic, former beauty queen said to the surprised mail carrier.
"I love you too 3914 Pierce Run Double Road you have always been a favorite of mine," he handed her some bills, a last chance offer from a clothing vendor, and fifty dollars in unmarked bills. She took the mail and kissed his cheek gently like a whisper at Sunday mass. It was a regular exchange.
She turned to go back into her house when he tapped her on the shoulder.
"Is it me or the uniform? Is it me or the above median pay and full benefits?"
She kissed his lips and said, "It's those shorts and socks in the summer." He nodded feeling somewhat cheaper, but happy.

John Paul Mahofski