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The Path That Eli Wellingsworth Took by Michael Harris Sequel to my short story, "The House That Bernard Wellingsworth Built." E... [9,402 words]
The Arrivals by Michael Harris **********WARNING*********** Do not read further without first reading my short story, The Rivals,... [10,381 words]
One More Minute by Keri Lebeau - [1,143 words]
Woody Pigeon by Garry Michael Ames woody pigeon gets lost. he falls off the signpost that turns out to be his home direction. [142 words]
With The Rain Comes The Damp by Amit Shankar Saha This story was composed after reading Arundhati Roy's Booker winning novel "The Go... [1,524 words]
Window Of Opportunity--A New Beginning by J D Hoff Hoff A story of friendship [1,982 words]
What Is Money by Matt Lenox A man whos surrounded by money doesnt know what it is really [932 words]
Watershed by Outlaw's Serenade 'he's a star I am not' And so begin the journey as she walks the valleys and peaks of her dreams. [993 words]
Translation by Dawei A slice-of-life style account of a young girl who expresses compassion in a unique way. [899 words]
Tortured To Death by Corey Moon my newest addtion to my short stories, i have yet to come up with an ending so if you have an... [750 words]
The Visit
The Starlight by Salman - [97 words]
The Sleeper Must Awaken.Part 1 by Dr Mu In early 2002 shortly after the tragedy of 911, the author of this site was guid... [1,617 words]
The Price Of Freedom (2) by Richard Koss A short story. [396 words]
The Old Hotel by Sman Scary Old Hotel. [1,886 words]
The Lonely Donkey by Garry Michael Ames baby donkey born colour of pink. none of other donkeys like him. lion chases other donkeys. r... [176 words]
The Little Tin Hut by Garry Michael Ames wicked witch of the forest trys to do folly to family living in a little tin hut . [408 words]
The Job by Kain An old wrestlers last match [6,918 words]
The Invasion by Wendland An intriguing story about a young boy and the deception carried out by his former best friend. [263 words]
The Building by Jessi a horror story. [390 words]
The Breakfast Nook by Randall Barfield . [246 words]
The Beginning by Daniel Atkinson My short story is about my first day of high school and the troubles i felt going through it. [283 words]
Spooky Stories by Wendland - [83 words]
Short Story (Incomplete by Josh Campbell Here is part 1 of a short story Im doing I just want feedback to see if this is good so... [920 words]
She's A Legend by Ma Sabrina Racelle M Dungcatinkerbell She’s a Legend. By: Sabrina Dungca When Tinkerbell met Fairy Guy, she was still in love with Pe... [706 words]
Poor Little Kitty Came Home by Garry Michael Ames kitty the kitten gets lost in the rain. young lucy finds her and takes her home [341 words]
Police Report by Vince O'neal a demented police officer is letting his job get to him [242 words]
Past Chasing by Dawei help.. [1,045 words]
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Lanky Joe by Garry Michael Ames lanky joe too tall to win at sports at school. finds he's good at basketball. hero of the school. [164 words]
Kaveri - The Girl Child. by Suryaprabha Easwar Kaveri is a six year old orphaned girl child in the south eastern coast of the Indian ... [1,701 words]
Jungle Tales-Mono The Rabbit by Seema M Salman I really enjoyed relating this story to my son.So I decided i would write it down... [230 words]
In A Guilded Cage by Devin Backman This is a story about a girl who learns that certain aspects of glamor come with a terrible p... [1,789 words]
Identity Crisis by Jeffrey Lee Williams Not just your average mistaken identity [2,344 words]
Gloomy Bathroom by Sman Gloom in the bathroom. [403 words]
Diary Of A Loon by Jessi -this is kinda about me, kinda not it kinda descirbes some of my randomness.. but not exactly. ... [574 words]
Dark Kelpie Nights by Jessi A story, sort of, about the kelpies i read about in a book. Describing their dark, yet beaut... [237 words]
Confessing Feeling... by M Rafique Danish A short story. [899 words]
Cloey The Clown by Garry Michael Ames nobody laughs at cloey the clown. something goes wrong with his act and everybody laughs [171 words]
Chirpy Bird by Garry Michael Ames chirpy bird wakes up animals and creatures in the woods. chirpy bird dies. six baby chirpy birds ta... [145 words]
Carl's Conscience by Sky X Stewart Sci-Fi - This is the first story in a series of short stories. Maybe good for a graphic novel... [2,254 words]
Butterflies Revenge by Jessi This is the beggining-intro of my story. [167 words]
Ali And The Airplane by Seema M Salman A motivational story [182 words]
Adventures In Dating by Samantha Jane A single gal's true story of an adventure in dating. [5,204 words]
About A Dog by Salman I love animals so I like telling stories about them [345 words]
A Night's Lullaby by Michael J Musto A man is walking through a city and is being trailed by a figure of a man in the distance. St... [802 words]
A New Day by Alex Maurya The story is about exactly the opposite of what it's title suggests. [347 words]
A Literary Collage: Five Tributaries by Jerry Vilhotti A newish art form [1,938 words]
A Day In Town by Ed Dudleston - [206 words]

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TITLE (EDIT)
The Visit
DESCRIPTION
-
[1,497 words]
AUTHOR
J D Hoff Hoff
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
43 year old with a passion for animal welfare.

[November 2007]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (2)
Opal (Poetry) Contemplations of Euthanasia [66 words]
Window Of Opportunity--A New Beginning (Short Stories) A story of friendship [1,982 words]
The Visit
J D Hoff Hoff

The visitor
 
 
Knock,Knock
 
Robert, an older Gentleman starts to rise from his chair, and then gives a shout. “The doors open, come on in” he yells out. The front door, slowly opens and in walks a younger woman, watching her feet with every tiny step as she looks around, being careful to not trip over anything. The younger woman introduces herself. Hi Robert, My name is Gloria and I was sent over to check on you. We noticed that you haven’t been coming in to the clinic for the past few months and we just wanted to make sure that everything is going OK. Robert drops his head a bit and a tiny little smile creeps out from between his lips.
He looks up at Gloria and asks her how she feels about her life. Gloria gives Robert a little grin back and says, “My life is going pretty good right now. I was just promoted at my job, I have a new car and am in the process of buying a new home.” Robert lets his little grin sneak out again and says, “but are you happy?” Well Gloria looks around and wonders to herself. Why is this man, who is sitting in an old decrepit old home asking me about happiness in my life. I have just told him about my new car, my promotion at work and the new home I am buying. Isn’t that enough? Gloria sees that this conversation needs new direction and puts the focus back on Robert. So Robert, how are things going with you? Gloria asks. Robert tells Gloria that he wished he had more money, but other than that, his life was filled daily with the miracle of happiness. Gloria is again astounded. How can Robert be so happy? From Gloria’s perspective, She sees an old man living in a dump with no friends and not much interest in getting out to find any. Gloria and her curiosity meet, so she asks Robert about the miracles in his life.
  Robert’s grin again appears and then quickly goes into a frown as he straightens himself in his chair. He asks Gloria to look around and then tell him what she sees. Gloria scans the room and looks back at Robert and asks him what she is supposed to see.
Robert says, do you not see anything of miraculous importance in this room. Do you not see a room filled with hope for the future when before nothing was seen but abandonment? Gloria is starting to worry about Robert now and is thinking that some sort of intervention may be needed for Robert’s mental health. She asks Robert to show her what it is that he sees as so special. Robert’s head drops and he gives a little nod. His grin is now completely gone and frustration fills his face. Gloria notices a tiny teardrop as it slowly creeps down Robert’s cheek. Gloria says, Robert, it’s OK. We have a host of services available and I’m sure we can get your life back on track. I’m sure everything is not as hopeless as it seems to you right now. Robert looks up at Gloria and says, but you have just shown me that everything is just as I see it. A world full of love that was lost in the blink of an eye. A soul, that mourns for the days of the past. A body that once ran and can now only barely walk. A woman that sees only with her eyes, not once looking into her Heart. Gloria tries once again to console Robert and pleads with him to at least come into the clinic to talk with someone. Robert agrees, but only if Gloria will sit down and listen with her heart for a few minutes. Gloria reluctantly sits on the dusty old couch and looks over at Robert, waiting to hear his words.
  Robert slides over to the left, as far as he can in his chair and then slowly stands up.
 
 
 
 
Robert walks over to the small shelf that stands in the corner and picks up a book.
He hands it to Gloria and tells her to look through the book and then tell him what she sees. Robert then goes back over to his chair and sits on the edge of the seat, balancing himself between cushion and floor. As Gloria flips through the pages with a puzzled look on her face, Robert watches as he sits there and wonders if she will understand.
A few minutes later, Gloria looks up at Robert and asks him what is so special about the book. Robert feels behind him to pick something up and hands it to Gloria as she pulls back and away, afraid that it will muss up her pretty black suit. He lays it in Gloria’s lap and says do you understand yet? From the look on Gloria’s face, Robert knows that she still doesn’t make the connection. Robert again reaches behind him, carefully lifting another object, this time he lays it against her side. He again asks her, do you understand? The look on Gloria’s face told Robert that she just couldn’t comprehend the meaning of the objects. Once again, Robert feels behind him and lays a third object at Gloria’s feet. Gloria’s frustrated look has now turned into the look of curiousness at the old mans actions. Robert says to Gloria, I’d like you to meet Sally, Gretchen and Papaw. They each have their own story to tell. Sally came to me because the world full of love that she used to share with her family had one day vanished in the blink of an eye, because she just had too many medical problems for the family to deal with. Gretchen is here because of the new baby. She now mourns the days of the past when she used to roll around in the floor with the soon to be Father that treasured his every moment with her. That guy lying at your feet is Papaw. He used to go out every morning and run with his human Dad. Now that old age and arthritis has set in, he doesn’t move so quickly and was no longer of any value to such an athletic family, but doesn’t he make the most perfect foot warmer. When you looked through my book, all you saw were a bunch of pictures with dates under them. When I look through that book, I see the lost souls that were discarded like the daily trash, but more than that, I see the miracles that I was so very proud to play a part in. You see, I am a foster Dad. I am one of those people that take in the lost, scared, helpless and abandoned animals that some of you regard as a simple piece of property, worth no more than yesterdays newspaper. I am one of those people that are left to deal with your lack of responsibility for “life”. When you came in here, you looked around at all of the toys strewn across the floor of mismatched tiles. You saw the stuffing that was falling out of the cushions and you saw a lonely old man sitting in a chair wasting his life away. When you saw the tear fall across my cheek, you thought that I was feeling bad about my own life. That tear was actually for you. I truly feel sorry for the emptiness that must be in your own Heart. You see me as needing help because my life is so different than yours. I see my life as being one of the richest on Earth, filled with the purest form of love, Unconditional. My way of life may look poor to those who put so much energy into their own inanimate possessions, but let me tell you, when a life that was at Deaths door yesterday jumps up in my lap, only to give me a big slobbery lick across my face. I know why I am here. My pockets may be empty. My house may be a mess, but my Heart and memories are filled with the shiniest of treasures. I’d like to continue our conversation, but right now I am needed elsewhere. Shortly before you arrived, a family called me to tell me about their beloved Spartacus. The Dad got a new job in Virginia and they just don’t think it would be fair to Spartacus to put him through the move across two state lines and then adjusting to the new house. Spartacus will come and visit with me for a while. The little Boy and Girl that he spent the last twelve years with drinking tea and playing toy soldiers with will be so much happier with him out of the way. Spartacus, I suspect will sleep lightly tonight, thinking about his little girl and boy, while I quietly shed another tear.
__________________
 

 

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2007 J D Hoff Hoff
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
November 2007
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
1608
 

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