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When You’re Smiling
One of my sons called last night to tell me that the steelhead run is the best in over 30 years, and we should go out my favorite hole and pick up a few But my mind didn’t focus on the great fishing I have experienced in years past, but on the long climb down…
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HOTEL HOPE chapter Three
Retirement I‘m sorry Father Ruben, but we all knew this day would eventually come. You have worked so hard for so many years, it is time for you to rest and enjoy life now. The Bishop spoke in almost too soft words. Ruben nodded; knowing in his heart that nothing was going to stop things…
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The Way We Were
With trembling hands, she cried out, “Who are you? Where am I?” She wept. There was terror in her eyes. I took her hand and replied, “ I am your husband. My name is Ed. We have been married for 46 years. We live in Indio, California. This is our home and we are in…
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Anna Decker’s Last Christmas
We lived on a beautiful mountain River in the Pacific Northwest, and nothing could be more beautiful than a snowy Christmas among the towering cedars. It was something like a miracle to be watching the snowfall around us as the kids ran amok through the backyard, rolling in the soft, powdery snow. My mom stood…
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HOTEL HOPE Chapter Two
Chapter Two Downfall Martin Tanner roughly elbowed the heavyset woman out of his way and climbed the steep stairs into the Greyhound bus. He slammed his duffel bag into the first seat, following it with a heavy thud as he threw his body into the seat next to it. He took the aisle seat and…
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MY Christmas Story 1958
Many years ago, in 1958, I worked for a Drapery and Sewing machine store in the little Southern New Jersey town where I was also a YMCA program manager. The pay was low and I always had a second job. The owner of the store was a man named Jack. He was a short, gruff…
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Hotel Hope
Ed Decker Introduction The old man stood in front of what was once an elite boutique hotel for Chicago’s wealthiest people. The Manor House had long ago lost its glamour and now sat there as a broken relic of the past, surrounded by weeds, cyclone fencing and razor wire. Father Ruben Stone had been sent…
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Like Fine Wine
Another Day Older Ed Decker You know you are getting older when your wife leaves for a week but arranged for the neighbors to check up on you every day. Right now, I am unsupervised for 9 days. Kind of makes me jittery, but I am in complete control. I am not sure why, but…
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Sorry, Waldo
Forget Waldo! Where is Ed Decker? Sorry, Waldo, but I have enough trouble trying to keep up with my own location. Driving back to Redmond from Issaquah the other day on the East Sammamish Parkway, my mind drifted for a second as I enjoyed the lake view for a second or two. For another second…
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