Bill the Butcher

  There was a woman. I first saw her sitting just off the Walmart parking lot on Lowes Road. Old woman, scarf on her head, you know. Sat among all her possessions that she had in two shopping carts. When it rained she covered herself with a blanket. She subsisted on change she received from passers by. By and by she relocated to a spot on Trimmier near the Pet Store. Yesterday, while getting a burger at the Whataburger across the street I noticed a “police presence” around her. At first I thought she had died. The homeless do that you know. In vacant lots, under bridges, in bus stops. But the officers weren’t there for that. Apparently her presence was offensive to the dogs! They were running her off! Like many others I am cognizant of the homeless situation in Killeen. Raised in Simmonsville and now a movie producer in Austin, I’ve taken the full ride. I’ve seen The Grand Ole Opry and I’ve talked to the wind in Ocatillo Wells. But all are not like me. Some don’t have the drive. So...

  By Jenny Albers Her teacher held the oversized envelope tightly against her chest. She grimaced and said “I’m sorry” upon handing me the packet containing my daughter’s first-ever school pictures. “Retakes are next month,” she continued. Her tone was a warning that disappointment awaited. “They’re that bad, huh?” I responded, before lifting the flap to peek inside the envelope. The teacher gave me a half-nod and said, “we tried.” I presumed my daughter's eyes might be shut or her hair adorned with streaks of finger paint. Heck, there might even be a dangling booger from her nose. After all, it's quite unrealistic to anticipate toddlers staying clean and tidy for more than a fleeting moment. “Geez, her teacher seems really concerned,” I thought, and wondered how a school picture could possibly be THAT awful. I reluctantly slid one of the photos halfway out of the envelope and whatever concern there had been immediately dissolved. I laughed. Hard. My heart was overflowing with ...

Thoughts for a Sunday Morning!   Finished the edit run through of my latest book. No, I’m not gonna give you pirates out there any details to steal. Hollywood has so excelled this year why should I impede it? Did you notice how you search feverishly trying to find something worth watching on Netflix only to end up going to TubiTV and doing “The White Buffalo” again. He who has a remote, let him click!   The Woke generation has so adulterated the human species that even the language has lost its value. You watch YouTube. Back in the day you’d get in trouble for videos that used copyright material. Well, that’s cool now but words are the problem. Anything having to do with life, death, who you screw, when you screw, how you screw or should you screw, kill, cook, or talk about any of the above UNLESS it’s bestiality, same sex, no sex or the ever popular pedophilia or as it has been redefined “Minor Attracted!” Let us pray. Ooops! That’s another forbidden word . . . God! Now G...

   Click to Play   Once upon a rainbow there were two horses standing out in a field of clover grazing, listening to the birds chirping, and enjoying retirement after a long career at the tracks. By and by one says to the other, “I say, old man! You’re new here. Tell me about yourself.” I know, I know, rainbows and talking horses. It’s just a story. Work with me on this!   Well, the second horse said, “My first race was at the Belmont Stakes. I didn’t place but eventually I got all the way to the Kentucky Derby. By that time I’d accrued enough experience that I ended up a nose in the lead. The horse behind me was holding but losing breath and I was maintaining and looking at a win. Right when I could just see the flag my hoof rolled and though I didn’t fall it cost me momentum and I came in show!”   The first horse said, “That’s tragic! I, myself was up for Preakness. I had excelled easily in several competitions and was confident of a sure win. Maybe even leadi...

      Meet the Nasser sisters. They could be anywhere. London, Mexico City, Austin. I’m particularly drawn to the older one. Not that the little one isn’t special but that one with her hands on her hips? Audacity! Crown on her head, not a hijab. No reason to hide her beauty. Bright eyes looking toward a bright future. A future that will not be allowed to happen now because some crazy old men uttered some nonsensical things that some other crazy old man wrote down and now, eons later other crazy old men killed these little girls because God is great!   The creative force of the universe damns every one of you. Do you believe that all the time that it took from the Big Bang from minuscule nothingness to these two little ladies was only so you could fire a missile at them during your property dispute? Do you belief Moses or Mohammed could even conceive of them, or their time and place?  Some of you attack a music event and others of you attack little girls in retal...

  Over the many years there are countless memories that are now gathering dust in the mind of an old man (That would be me) but they never go away, and I don’t apologize for them. The memories of an old man are like that. One such memory of mine is from my time in Nashville. One of many times in my life that I became delusional and imagined myself to be something that I wasn’t. You write and sing in some bar in Austin and the drinks would tell you that you oughta be In Nashville. So, I went to there to become another Willie Nelson, unfortunately they already had a Willie Nelson, and their quota was filled for singing Texas Fools, and I ended up doing shows out across from Opryland just off Briley Parkway at the Ramada Inn. My agent  told me it was a good gig. Tourists filled the bar, so you must be a star, you're on a stage in Nashville. Hank Williams never died; he does a show every night at the Holiday Inn.   I lived in a studio on Westend and every morning I’d get up a...

  So,I’m gonna bust this bubble right now! I spent fifteen years, curtesy of the CPS, separated from my grandchildren. No particular reason. I just was one of them guys that has a face people like to slap the shit out of. And all that time I lived a delusional life, clinging onto schizophrenic memories of the sounds of little feet. The CPS was smarter than me! I should’ve taken the hint!   Well, time and tears went by and we were all united again. My joy was beyond description. Like finding a bottle of Jim in the cabinet behind the flour that you forgot you hid there so folks wouldn’t call you an alcoholic when you pour a couple shots in your morning coffee.   It took me some time before I realized the kids had morphed. Took about a day. They don’t talk, they scream. And they scream because they all hate each other. The big ones eat the little ones. This actually started a while ago. Ever wonder why the birth rate is declining? Millenials eat their young! But they honestl...