hi

hi

s style was abrupt, concise, abbreviated. Loquaciousness was the enemy. Wasted breath or wordspace a sin. Why 'hello' when 'hi' will do? His wife was the opposite. She loved run-on

loving. His wife was known as "Hot Mary" in the neighborhood. She'd been christened Abigail but she'd caught the salacious moniker on a chance encounter with

Father Flannigan, who enjoyed role-playing during confession. Father Flannigan repented publicly and, well, the name "Hot Mary" just stuck. She considered it a term of endearment.

Now 89, Mary Martha Shenanigans sat quietly in the dim nave, lit by the multicolored windows and the secret light beyond. She prayed for the dead and the lost. Two angelic guys

appeared on either side of her, stroking her arms gently. "Do not open thine eyes, Mary Martha Shenanigans," a whispery male voice spoke. "Behold, we have a message for thou:

Keep thine eyes closed, travel 70x7 steps, close one eye, open the other, close the first one then open the other, look down and you will see your destiny." Mary Martha Shenanigans

wasn't superstitious, but she paced the 70x7 steps (two lucky numbers), alternately opened one eye (her good one) & when she looked down Mary Martha Shenanigans saw a shiny object

glimmering in the pavement, but as Mary bent down to pick it up, the object rolled slightly and her own glass eye was looking up at her. "Shoot fire and the devil's black words, I