The Rat
I didn’t set out to be a rat; it just turned out that way.They came at midnight. A chief inspector and six constables. Thumping on the door. Hard. My father stumbled down the stairs in his slippers and striped pajamas, pulling a robe around him as he came. Bleary-eyed he opened the door. When he saw the flashing red and blue lights his first thought had to be ‘what have I done’?“We’ve had a report that Mark’s been badly beaten.” Belting his robe my father allowed himself to be led to the back seat of one of the patrol cars and to be driven the five hundred yards around the corner to the Gnosall Police department. Here they find me bent over

Embarrased in Tucson
One evening last week as I wrapped up my evenings bill paying on the computer I noticed that I had a new message on Facebook. When I clicked on the link I was pleasantly surprised to find a note from my college roommate. He was in town, remembered I lived in Tucson, and had been stood up on his business dinner and wondered if I was free to join him. He went on to say he was working in his room until seven and then planned to eat dinner in the restaurant at the hotel where he was staying The Hotel Arizona. I say I was surprised, as other than an occasional e-mail with his wife, who runs a college alumni website, I had not seen or spoken to him since our college days in 1976. Neve