I saw Betty Ann Bender yesterday morning and she was fit to be tied. Her husband had left the house without mentioning their anniversary. And it wasn’t just any anniversary. It was their tenth. Betty Ann said she wasn’t really expecting diamonds and roses as Sam has never been the romantic kind, but she was hoping he would at least remember. He didn’t. I asked

From time to time I like to fill y’all in on the happenings at the courthouse where my cousin Katherine works as a stenographer. She never fails to have a good story for me. Recently, Katherine’s friend Patti was selected to be on the jury for a big murder trial, we’re talking the crime of the century for their rural Arkansas town. Katherine said the defendant

Old Man Henry’s been playing golf for a couple years now. Mrs. Mamie says he has become an official nut about it, too. They can’t go anywhere anymore without calling ahead and seeing if there is a golf course in the area. As a matter of fact, they’ve just come back from a little trip up to Branson. Robert Carl and his wife went with

My cousin Clair has been going round and round with her preteen son about his hygiene habits, or lack thereof. She says Jordan hasn’t quite gotten the hang of antiperspirant and deodorant. “Just wait until he gets a crush on some little girl,” I told her. “He’ll have plenty of motivation then. You’ll have to put a lock on the bathroom to keep him out

Jerry was sitting in his accountant’s waiting room, waiting for his appointment when an old college acquaintance walked in. The two of them shook hands and made a little small talk while the other fellow signed the waiting list. Then he sat down next across from Jerry in the tiny room. The men had never been that close, but seeing as how their knees were

My friend Paul is a dentist. He admits it’s not the most popular job around, but he insists that someone has to do it. I agree, on both accounts. Last week Paul had a pretty blond in her late twenties come in for a checkup. John’s receptionist told him that when the young woman made the appointment she admitted she was very afraid of dentists.

I was down at the coffee house earlier when I overheard Mrs. Myrtle, our town’s resident old-as-the-hills maid telling her friends about her recent experience at the movies. Mrs. Myrtle had gone to see Courageous but it was sold out and she had to go with her second choice, which ended up being some kind of science fiction something or other. Mrs. Myrtle isn’t into

Poor Mrs. Gladys, she went to visit her grand-daughter and her husband over the weekend and the news is not good. She was excited about seeing the young family, and she was looking forward to going to church with them Sunday morning but things didn’t go so well. Leslie and her husband go to a big new mega-church. Mrs. Gladys, on the other hand, is

Betty Ann is an all around excellent cook, but she is best known for her Christmas goodies. She takes one day every year and bakes her cookies, makes her snack mix, and turns out her perfect chocolate candies, and divides it all into tins for those fortunate souls on her Christmas list. This year she got a head start. She started her Christmas baking bright

Sue Ellen Binder and Georgia Hathcock were once invited to a mutual friend’s birthday celebration. Call my girlfriends and I the eternal optimists, but rumor had it that those two had finally agreed to let bygones be bygones. Wrong. Being in the same room with 'em is just as uncomfortable as it was when Georgia came back to town and found out Sue Ellen had