Category: Culture

My Brother, How I Miss You Already

The photo was taken in 1957, at our home in Manila only one year after our family moved from Flintstone, Georgia. Our mother was thirty-seven. Our stepsister Carolyn was fifteen. I was seven.

Mike was sixteen, already a man, kind, witty, and charming, an example for me to respect from a distance for most of our lives because I was only nine when he left the nest and we never lived in the same town again.

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Linda and I were married at least a couple of years before she met him. Mike would have been not yet forty at the time, six-foot-three and movie-star handsome, so much so that Linda asked, “What happened to you?”

A lifetime later, I finally thought of an answer. I got a brother out of the deal.

Michael Lee Dyer passed away last night, December 4, 2023, of pneumonia, following a six-month battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was eighty-two years old, frail, suffering, aware of impending death and the most important thing he could think of during our last moments together was to say how much he loved me and how proud he was to be my brother.

Linda and I prayed that our natural father Benjamin Franklin Dyer, by all accounts another prince of a man, would be there to receive him. Godspeed, my brother. I loved you always, and will never forget you.

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A Satisfied Customer

A few days ago, a fellow author asked her Facebook audience, “What was the best purchase you ever made?” I replied with a photo of my eighth motorcycle, bought new in 2004.

I was fifty-four at the time. I’d taken a long break from the activity, then resumed with a 1976 Kawasaki 900, a version of which I’d owned in 1974.

Continue reading “A Satisfied Customer” →
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Nostalgiafied

Inspired by posts about cars people wish they still had, I found a photo of my 1962 Mercedes-Benz 220, a possession I should have kept for a lot of reasons — including the fact it would have been a good investment.

But then, remorse over cast-away treasures is a common experience as we age. Sometimes we discover such articles in a sock drawer, or hidden on a shelf, joyful we didn’t discard them after all. That won’t happen with the car — I distinctly remember selling it to a nurse who worked at Deaconess Hospital.

I had bought it from my girlfriend’s older sister in 1971, for $600. It cost $3500 new, and was only nine years old. Although afflicted with a slipping clutch, I thought it was a bargain. That said, I was in college, too poor to be an auto enthusiast, too dumb not to be.

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Desperado

Two days ago, a double-murder-convicted prison escapee crashed a stolen car in a neighborhood across the river. Shortly thereafter, his shoe was found on a nearby boat ramp, implying he might have taken a swim over to our side.

See the featured image. I don’t want to find him hiding under the stairs. We’re locking doors, burning outdoor lights, setting the alarm, and packing heat.

The latter is a practice to which I’m not unaccustomed. Since Indiana is a reasonably enlightened state, the issue isn’t whether or not to carry, but rather what to carry.

Continue reading “Desperado” →
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John Quixote

There’s a gag I use when meeting a Spanish-speaker for the first time.

Following introductions, I’ll say, “Mi esposa me llama el gordo, pero no se lo que dice porque no entiendo Espanol.”

Delivered with good accent, fairly fast. To wit, “My wife calls me the fat one, but I don’t know what she says because I don’t understand Spanish.”

I always get a good laugh out of it, but Linda says my victims are being polite, and it’s not funny.

If it isn’t, I’ll stop embarrassing myself. Tell me in the comments.

Image by falco from Pixabay

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The Graduate

2023 May 10 – Ernie Beagley Dyer graduates from the PetSmart Beginner’s course.

We had a substitute trainer for the final session. Her first words upon meeting him were, “You’re a little shit, aren’t you?”

Yes. Yes, he is. That’s why he placed fourth in a class of six.

He’s worn out from the ordeal, will probably sleep like the innocent, cradled in my arms all night.

Which is how he gets away with things.

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Watching the Mousehole

Not with the patience of a cat; I have too many things to do. But I did notice, out of the corner of an eye, the appearance of Vivek Ramaswamy on the campaign trail — polling at 1.5% alongside Mike Pence, which isn’t great although it’s certainly more attention than I’m getting.

So, good for him. The man has an interesting story and an energizing message. If you care about politics, you might take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/VivekGRamaswamy

Image by Markus Bieck from Pixabay

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