Michael Lewis

“The Not so Total Strangers” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #271

      TThe train standing on platform five is the 9:40 pm from Chicago Union Station due to arrive at Penn Station at 7:30am the following morning. I dragged my overstuffed suitcase into my compartment and with effort, managed to lift it up to the overhead rack. Slumping down onto my seat, I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. A voice cut into my now relaxing body. “Man, that suitcase looks like it contains all your worldly possessions.” “You have no idea sir, just how close to home your comment is.”I thought...

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“Thief” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #268

 Mom is in the living room knitting intricate patterns for some item of clothing. Outside the window, an ice cream truck trills its usual cheerful tune. It's a sound I have grown to love. Charlie, the ice cream man, had arrived on his weekly round. I put down my train set.  “Mom, can I buy a cone?” Mom glances up from her knitting,  “Ok, take it out of the vase, but only a penny cone, mind you.” I get up from the floor and walk out to the hallway. The old, semi-circular, dark brown hall table stands in the corner next to ...

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“The Fork” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #267

         IntroductionI am surprised, there is no doubt in my mind that things are not moving along as usual. I’m not sure why this is, but I do know one thing. The atmosphere in this kitchen is sudden and strangely tense. They, of course, are unaware that I know what is happening in my surroundings. First, though, let me introduce myself. The ForkLook at me clean and sparkling. And so another morning begins as it has done for more ...

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“Not So Tough” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #193

   It was on my 26th birthday that the little green card arrived. I had a pretty good idea what the card meant, although at that time my ability to read and understand Hebrew was only about six inches ahead of negligible. I went next door to my neighbor.  "Shmulik, I think this is my army induction notice, am I right?" He told me I had to attend the army center for new recruits joining the Nachal unit in two weeks. I took the bus down to the induction center, a few kilometers north of Tel Aviv. There we went through...

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“Teenage Angst” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #164

        Teenage Angst  Where I come from, teenage boys have already grown into adulthood, and are therefore sexually mature.                               The phone call came as Donald was sitting in the only decent chair in his house.    " Hello!"    " Hi, Donald, it's Brian."    "Hi, Brian,...

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“Scarred for Life” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #140

The first major upset in my life occurred when I was nine months old, although I was, of course, far too young to remember it. It was during the middle of February 1948; I caught a cold. My mother put a saucepan of milk on top of the stove and lit the gas. The liquid is heated to a pleasantly warm temperature, after which a quantity of butter is added. In those days, warm milk and butter was Glasgow’s general homeopathic medicine for any child’s nose that ran with two green streams. In winter, the two green streams would become a river notic...

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“Teenage Angst” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #114

        Teenage Angst The phone call came as Donald was sitting in the only decent chair in his house.    " Hello!"    " Hi, Donald, it's Brian."    "Hi, Brian, what's up?"   "Are you doing anything this weekend?"   "Not really. Why?"   " It's my sister's fifteenth birthday, and I wondered if you want to come to the party."   "Yeah, sure, when, and what time is it happening?"   "Saturday night, don't com...

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“The Adventures of Snodfarge Grundweiler and You.” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #97

The Adventures of Snodfarge Grundweiler III and You. I created this when teaching 3rd grade in New York.  Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night? I have. Why I woke up in the middle of last night, I  have no idea, but I did. I stumbled with a  tired yawn and looked out of my bedroom window. In the distance, I saw a tiny little light moving slowly from left to right across the sky. At first, I  thought I was looking at an airplane, but then it did something extraordinary. When the object reached the horizon...

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“Teenage Angst” by Michael Lewis

                            Teenage Angst   1399 The phone call came as Donald was sitting in the only decent chair in his house.    " Hello!"    " Hi, Donald, it's Brian."    "Hi, Brian, what's up?"   "Are you doing anything this weekend?"   "Not really, why?"   " It's my sister's fifteenth birthday, and I wonder...

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“A Fork's Life” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #92

                                  A Fork's Life It's dark in here. So dark I can't even see the rest of my brothers and sisters lying next to me. But, of course, this is how it should be when one's living quarters are inside a drawer. Look at me clean and sparkling. And so, another morning begins as it has done for more mornings than I care to remember. I imagine prison mus...

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“The Edge” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #89

                                                The Edge Self-created peer pressure is hazardous to a boy who has recently joined the ranks of what are often called the early- teens. I speak from experience because those pressures almost got me killed. At the ripe old age of almost thirteen, I had become...

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“The Ring of Truth” by Michael Lewis

Submitted to Contest #72

     The Ring of Truth James Harrington Witherspoon III, Jimmy to his friends and family except for his mother, was a true English gentleman. He was due to inherit his grandfather's woolen-mill on his twenty-fifth birthday. The young man would also join the ruling strata of English gentlemen farmers. Along with the woolen mill, he would also inherit 5,000 acres of prime agricultural land in North Yorkshire, plus a further 3,000 acres on the Scottish borderland. He raised Aberdeen Angus cattle, along...

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