The Amazing Race by R.G. Ryan Originally published in Snapshots At St. Arbuck's Vol 2, Available from Amazon.com Six a.m. on a mid-summer Sunday morning. I was sitting at a sidewalk table outside a St. Arbuck’s on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood—“WeHo” to the locals—doing a bit of people watching and thinking about … Continue reading The Amazing Race
Flash Fiction
Fix You
A warm and playful yet insistent breeze stole through the open bedroom window carrying a hitchhiking scent that was at once familiar and foreign. The digital display on my bedside clock read, 10:00 AM. I should have been up two hours ago, but lately all I seem to want to do is sleep, which is … Continue reading Fix You
The Key
Drab, brown woolen coat. A man's overcoat. My size. Discarded. Forgotten. Suspended on a wire hanger. A light sprinkling of dust on the shoulders. I open the coat, running my fingers over the satin lining and luxuriating in the pure pleasure of touch. I come to a bump. Not a bump exactly. Elongated. Metallic. It … Continue reading The Key
The Beach House by R.G. Ryan
The inescapable fact of the mater is that the deeper I get into my current conundrum the more I love the taste of alcohol. Clear liquor, brown liquor, it don’t matter much to me. I love it all. Time was when I believed it loved me back. I know better now. Oh, yes, I most … Continue reading The Beach House by R.G. Ryan
The Living Years
The floor was sticky. How the fact had managed to escape his attention until now was a mystery. Of course when one was on their hands and knees’ rooting around for one’s dropped eyeglasses the condition of the flooring tended to become disgustingly evident. “Retirement Living,” the gaudy sign had trumpeted on the day he’d … Continue reading The Living Years
On The Beach
On The Beach By R.G. Ryan The wind whipped at her hair as she stood gazing out to sea, far past the blue horizon. Not a violent wind. Not like some that had visited her island paradise lately. This wind was more playful than anything, tossing her hair to and fro much in the same way … Continue reading On The Beach
Gunny
He’s there every day. Heck, I even see him in the afternoons and evenings; always with a different group of people; always with a few recent creations tucked under his arm. I won’t tell you his name, because I know he treasures anonymity. He was a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps; so, I’ll just … Continue reading Gunny
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Shrieks
(Originally published in Snapshots At St. Arbuck's Vol 3)Honesty compels me to confess that rowdy children in a small, enclosed space like St. Arbuck’s is not one of my favorite things.Actually, now that I think about it, unruly kids are off-putting regardless of the environment.And don’t get me started on the topic of inattentive, permissive … Continue reading The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Shrieks
Poetry In Motion
Location: Somewhere off the coast of Baja California onboard the Mariner of the Seas, en-route to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Yes, it’s true, R.G., the landlubber, is on a cruise ship. A very, very big cruise ship. Talking aircraft carrier big. Thirty-five hundred passengers and twenty-eight hundred crew members big. Which means … Continue reading Poetry In Motion
The Midnight Cowboy
I never cared for the taste of strong liquor until the day Lorna introduced me to the aqua vitae. She of the exquisite face and form. She with hair the color of burnished copper catching the reflection of the setting sun. She of the jade-green eyes...jaded. Gone now. Long gone. Good and gone. But if … Continue reading The Midnight Cowboy
R.G. Ryan 