The group was talking about the various objects that they had forgotten to take with them when they had left a restaurant, a motel, or ship or the like. I recalled an episode in my life:

He and I had been a couple for five years. Not a terribly romantic relationship, but we were suitable partners in many ways. We respected each other, had a good love life, and did not quarrel. But he did get grumpy at times, especially when he became bored with a situation that was not exactly to his liking. That’s how he was at the Carnarvons.

A SHORT-SIGHTED VIEW?
4366 words

IS THAT YOU, JESUS?

My grandmother lived until she was 98, a very devout mother of four who had seen good times and bad in her long life. My father, Harry, was her youngest child, and the others would say that their mother would skin them to make a coat for Harry! Yes, he was the favourite, but then, he was a good and loving son. He was always there for her.

ELWYN FAY SCOTT

I was in the middle of decorating one of my ceramic bowls when the phone rang. ‘Hello,’ I said.
‘Is that you Doreen?’ this pleasant voice enquired, to which I of course answered in the affirmative. ‘This is Elwyn Scott,’ was the seeming nonchalant reply, ‘Do you remember me?’

CAMP CABLE...my memories

I turned fourteen in May, 1942. It was not a good year for Australia. Singapore had fallen to the Japanese Army. Singapore was the fortress that was supposed to repel any invaders, but the guns were facing out to sea, and the enemy came overland from the North!

YOU ARE JUST STARTING TO LEARN A BIT, WHEN YOU HAVE TO BLOODY-WELL DIE!
That’s what my father used to say when he was in his eighties. And now I am at least THINKING it.
Yes, it is true. It sometimes takes a lifetime to really understand some issues...or someone. Perhaps it is because when one gets older, one might have more time to ponder. Maybe life is not so frantic, or is it that we have learned at last to ‘walk in the other fellow’s shoes’...as my father also used to advise.

BERNARD’S BASIN
I found myself on my own with three daughters, aged sixteen, twelve and ten. We found a nice enough little house that we could afford, and I had a small car, but I had never driven further than the Gold Coast from Brisbane. It had been almost a year now, and it was time for some sort of adventure.

AMY COLLINS

Mum was always a good and interesting listener. And I would bring home any newsy anecdotes from my work at the hospital. I was looking after ex-servicemen from WWII, who were suffering from lung cancer...in the surgical ward, after their awful operations to have portion of their lung removed.

SHADES OF HITLER!

An elderly gentleman, very studious and learned, with three doctorates to his name, was relating a story of his youth...

THE MOUSE

We were sitting in our two seater settee watching her favourite program on television. It was a good thing that I shared this with her. It gave us togetherness. We could discuss it later. My teenage daughter was studying TV production at university and liked to dissect a given program. I loved to contribute, and she seemed to value my opinion. But we also simply enjoyed this program which was a tad trite, but it took our minds off other troubling issues. Then the mouse appeared!