Kirby Pines Retirement Community | The Pinecone

The Pinecone | November 2026 • 9 • Steve Tittle TOPIC OF THEMONTH: Write about something that surprised you. Poetry &Writing Club COME JOIN THE CLUB Monday, November 9th at 9:30 am in the Arts & Crafts Room MarilynMcCormick Our wedding anniversary was August 27. On a Thursday night before our before our anniversary, my husband Jack suggested to me that I pack a suitcase. “Why do you want me to pack a suitcase?” I asked. I had to work the next day. I taught school. He was self-employed. I worked on Fridays, and he usually played golf. That was an advantage to being your own boss. “Where are we going? What about school?” I asked. “I’ll pick you up at school. Ride to work with Peggy. I’ll bring your things and we’ll be off.” No amount of my quizzing got me a hint of his plans. He wouldn’t even tell me what things I should pack. To be on the safe side, I threw in a bathing suit and a sweater. I would be prepared for almost anything. Midmorning that Friday my principal walked intomy classroom and toldme he needed to talk to me in the hall. Oh my gosh! What did he want? When we got into the hall, Jack was standing behind Dr. Malone. Jack grabbed me by the hand and told me to get my things. Dr. Malone said, “Have fun. I’ve got you covered.” We got into Jack’s car and started out. We headed west on Summer Avenue. That was clue number one. THE BEST SURPRISE Story by Marilyn McCormick We must be headed to Arkansas - maybe Hot Springs or the Red Apple Inn or even Heber Springs. At Parkway we turned left. The airport was left. I squealed with excitement. “We’re going to the airport. Aren’t we?” I got no comment only a grin. When we got to the airport, I got my second clue when the agent handed Jack our tickets and pointed toward our gate. I fairly flew to the gate where there was a sign saying New York. Then I knew. We had been to New York several times, so this time we just walked around and sort of inhaled the city. The weather was fantastic. The restaurants we ate in offered wonderful food. We did not do the usual tourist sights. I remember how much we enjoyed sitting in a little park and watching people. Jack had arranged a limo to pick us up at the Newark airport and drive us into the city. He even talked the hotel desk clerk into upgrading our room. I bought a T-shirt with the twin towers on it from a street vendor. Two weeks later those towers were gone. I wore that shirt until it was almost a rag. I have had other surprises in my life, but that trip to New York was probably the best. On Christmas afternoon, 2019, I decided to put away in the attic some of the holiday items that would be of no use for another year. There was a place in a back corner where Christmas wrapping paper, for example, slept contentedly for 50 or so weeks every year. Little did I expect the surprise that awaited me. Now don’t get ahead of me. There was no critter lurking back there, nor a forgotten rat trap for me to step on. I placed the wrapping paper where it belonged and turned to leave, when suddenly I found myself in the little reading nook adjacent to our kitchen. I had fallen clean through the ceiling in a flash! Now that was a surprise! There was a small, unfloored area back there that I’d forgotten about. It sucked me into it like a vacuum. The insulation and ceiling sheet rock seemed to explode beneath my feet. It’s funny how the brain works in such situations. As fast as it happened, I still remember the incredulous “how-did-this- happen” question that flashed in my mind. I didn’t even feel the injuries to my legs. Instinctively I threw my ams up as if I were doing “the wave” in a baseball stadium. That motion allowed me to rocket downward cleanly between two rafters spaced 16 inches apart. It also allowed me to break my fall by catching the top edge of the rafter that my chin must have missed by no more than an inch. As I fell, I wondered, “What’s below me? Where am I going to land” The answers came quickly. Hanging from the rafter, I saw my wife’s grandfather staring at me. No, not literally, but his portrait was on the wall at my eye level. That meant that I was in the reading nook, and an overstuffed chair was directly belowme. What a relief! With my startled wife guiding my feet, I dropped down onto the chair, shakily stepped off, and sat down on that chair now covered with chunks of sheet rock and scraps of insulation. Though my shins and thighs had sustained some injuries, I thanked God for protecting me from what could have been life-changing, even deadly, injuries. Ken Carver WATCH YOUR STEP! Story by Ken Carver