Happiness & Joy

Happiness is what you have
when things go your way
and you’re carried by
whatever makes you smile.

Joy is what you have
when you see the way
your smile comes from
the world around you.

Happiness is what I feel
when you make me smile
and I start to glow
from the light you shine.

Joy is what I feel
when I see you smile.
I can feel the warmth
of the light you share.

Happiness
is what we need
when the way is rough
and the world is cold.

Joy
is what we have
when our walk together
never grows old.

                -- Jonathan Vold

Poems written while Dick was in hospital

Missing Autumn
      by Marilyn Jaeger, 

Morning skies of paintbrush coral reef
Norwegian red, gold and ombre leaves
Brisk air, bird song heights.

He lies hospital abed, barely seeing, not eating.
What if?
What if?

And I hear the response, the serif,
The Seraphim, who proclaim:
God is in this world.
This world of seeing and swallowing and striding,
He's got it covered!
                                             October 14, 2015


Wing Language
     by Marilyn Jaeger

A serif is a wing, in fonts
Of characters in a text.
They carry the eye more easily
From one word to the next.

I first feared this was beating
A dead horse; let it rest.
Then recalled a book of my father's
A Winged Horse Anthology - the best

In poetry to nineteen thirty
With Pegasus, winged horse, as theme.
Poetry, words,flying accomplishment
Wings, (serifs), leading on it does seem.

Trodding leafed Mendota paths
I listened to fragments passing by
Elemental, words reach an ear, like
Angel wings whisp from the sky.

Our words have wings, written or spoke.
How they may lift, or sometimes, suppress.
Take delight in the presence of seraphim:
Words fly to us, God's angels', "Yes!"
                                       October 18, 2015

The Blue Brick

by Dick Jaeger

Setting: Back patio of a suburban home

Actors:

Jim

Gary

GARY: It’s good to be back in the old neighborhood. What have you been up to lately,

Jim?

JIM: Had a great fishing trip up in Canada. We flew there. Caught so many fish the

return flight was overweight!

GARY: You’re kidding. The fish made the plane overweight??

JIM: Well, I had found a beautiful blue brick that I wanted to take home to Cleone.

But - - I hadda throw it out of the plane.

GARY: Hard to believe that made a difference, but I believe you. Still was good

fishing, huh?

JIM: Yeah, would do it again in a second.

GARY: Remember the day you asked me and Norm to help you and your brothers

to put together your above-ground swimming pool?

JIM: Do I remember?? (pause) My brother Ted was as stubborn as I was.

GARY: You three were arguing how to do the work. Nothing was going right.

Norm and I were lifting up and holding the frame best way we could.

JIM: Wasn’t working.

GARY: Finally you said, “If you guys can’t settle on how to do this, we are going to

have to read the instructions!”

JIM: Yup. When all else fails. . . .

Say, did I tell you about the excitement we had last weekend at our backyard picnic?

GARY: No, what happened?

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JIM: A bear surprised us as we were eating. Boy were we scared. It approached slowly,

and we just did not know what to do. All of a sudden, the bear stopped. And a blue

brick hit it right on its head!

GARY: What? Where did that blue brick come from?

JIM: Oh, that was the blue brick I threw out of the airplane in the last story!

GARY: Arggh!

Well, gotta be going. (pause) I saw a blue brick out by your front door.

What’s that all about?

JIM: That? That’s the brick that hit the bear. I keep it there to remind the bear – or anyone

who shows up – that I’M ARMED!

THE END

Paper Routes

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Paper Routes

by Dick Jaeger

Setting: A park bench

Actors:

Arnie

Bill

Casper

ARNIE: Remember our good old paper-delivery days? Boy, we had to work. Well,

it was sort of fun too, and we could always catch the eye of some young chick.

BILL: I guess I wasn’t a very good paper boy. I only received one tip.

At Christmas. A quarter.

CASPER: My first route was twenty-six papers and I had to walk two and a half miles.

ARNIE: I remember one day in particular. It was springtime. As I got closer to this

house, I noticed they had removed the screens on their front porch. And the

front door was open. Ah, here’s my chance to show what a great paper boy I

am, I thought. I tossed the paper through the open door!

BILL: Good boy! Did they come out and thank you?

ARNIE: Oh, not quite. The next Monday at school my classmate – it was his house.

Johnnie said the paper landed in the bowl of soup his dad was trying to eat.

Boy was he pissed!

CASPER: One winter evening...I remember, it was already dark and the streetlights

were on. I finished my route and headed home. But then, I thought I heard

someone behind me. Stopped and looked back. No one there. Again – I

stopped to check on a funny noise. Nothing. Made me decide to sprint home.

I got to the end of the street and cut the corner across the end lot. But I didn’t

see the wire they had strung across the yard to keep kids from cutting through.

Hit that wire with my shin, and man did I fly.

BILL: I can say I never threw a paper on a customer’s roof!

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ARNIE AND BILL: Well, I did a few times.

CASPER: I had a customer who never seemed to answer the door. Or he never had

any money when I came around to collect. Another Saturday collection,

another “no answer” at the door. Dad said, “Did Jones pay you?”

“No”, I answered. Dad picked up the phone, called Jones and in a loud

voice Dad made clear I was on my way down to their house right now and they

will pay – now!

BILL: When I started high school football, practice was after school. I had to give

up my paper route. Well, by that time it was a pretty good-sized route. 75

papers and nearly every house.

I had a buddy who agreed to take over the route. But he didn’t want to collect

or be responsible for the money. So we agreed that he would deliver and I

would collect on Saturdays. We’d split fifty-fifty.

When my Dad found out about our good business deal, he just said, “If Donnie

does the work he gets the money. No discussion.”

I was out of the paper business.

ARNIE: Reminds me of my Dad. I had a Sunday route for four weeks. But I

decided I did not want to deliver those heavy Sunday papers. I got a

friend to take it over. A few weeks later he asked me to sub for him. It was

Easter Sunday, but I agreed to. And I was amazed that so many people had left

an envelope with a card and some money for the paper boy! When I got home

I told my Dad of my good fortune.

Wrong.

He clearly told me, “That money is for the boy who delivers regularly. You are

to turn it all over to him.

Yeah, my Dad too was a firm believer in justice.

BILL: One of my paper routes, the papers were delivered to my house in a big bundle.

After grade school all the neighborhood guys would get together and play

basketball on our driveway off the alley behind our house.

Mom would open the back door and yell “The papers are here!”

ARNIE: That got you moving, right?

BILL: Not quite. It’d only put a pause in our game. But when the door started

opening the second time, I knew I’d better be heading toward the front of

the house and get to work. She always had to yell twice, but I knew I’d

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better not push it. When Mom was unhappy we were all unhappy.

CASPER: Ah, yes, the good old days. Wonder how it works now. But I guess I already

know. Our paper gets delivered by an adult throwing it from an open car window. And we pay by credit card...automatically. Folks are missing something today. We had it good.

ARNIE: And you know what? We sure got to know a lot more people in town!

THE END