Tales by Tom

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the Eigth installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

Story 14. When you least expect it ---times two.    On one hand, the credit card mishap gives you such a sinking feeling when you discover it has happened. On the other hand, a surprise like the second example can leave some with a similar feeling but infinitely wiser. Mortal, indeed, but so grateful.

Story 15. A letter I never sent and I’m glad… 1.7   It’s my old problem. I think I’m right to be pursuing an answer to a query no one else has expressed. There’s an answer there, and I wanted it outted. Shouldn’t the truth be known, the real responsibility fixed. Why is everyone stonewalling me? The one day I wake up --- everyone knows what happened, just nobody has said the words---and sleeping dogs are better left asleep.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456      .

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the seveth installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

Story 12.  I’ve been in a hurry all my life …  It’s called impatience. I’ve used it as both an excuse and a cause célèbre. I’ve tried to get better over time ---leave things to God, give it up to the Lord, but it doesn’t always happen that way. Helps my blood pressure when I get that release, though. Now there is a pill for that, and I’m, on board.

Story 13.  Nostalgia --- We’re all guilty, I imagine, of dabbling in its rosy glow, staring into its “come hither eyes.” But you have to take care and remember where you stand today and not give in to the lure. It’s an illness and it is complicated, and there is a danger involved.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456      .

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the sixth installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

Old Friends ---  These are three poems I wrote in my past---one from Paris (The Voyeur), one from Baton Rouge (Reality) and one from NYC and a restaurant called the French Shack. Super place ---gone now, of course.

Things that DIDN’T happen to me when I was away from home --- Unlike the stories in the collection entitled Travel at Your Own Risk, they happened. Here, with these 20, you have to use your judgement. What am I saying? Did they or didn’t they?

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456      .

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the fifth installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”  

Story 8.  From dreams I awake.  There are some dreams I come out of dripping with sweat or anxiety, and am glad to be past them. They are all ex-job concerns---nothing current---all from my retail life of old. I awake, recall the circumstances of the dream, and I haven’t been in that business since 1995. I feel better immediately, but what can I do? Is there a pill?

Story 9.  What is your passion?  I’ve had one or another at various stages of my life. Don’t we all? Some I have pursued more feverishly than other, and I am sure God laughs at me when I get all fired up, chase it and chase it, then back off. I can’t help it. It’s the competitive urge in me. Is there a pill for this, too?

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456. Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the fourth installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

6. Dogs in my life - I have always had dogs in my life, but not since Florida. Back in Baton Rouge, I babysit my last son’s dog, a well-trained Chocolate Lab, often, and I wonder if I really would like one of my own. It’s supposed to be good for old people, but since I’ll never be old enough for AARP, maybe I won’t make my dogs years either. Yes and no, yes and no, no and yes.

7. The Paper Boy - I did my stint as one on the ‘40s. I didn’t mind the deliveries but I hated the door-to-door collections every month. My oldest son, Tom Jr., went the same route (sorry for the pun) in a different city, except he didn’t have the collection burden. We had some memorable Sundays delivering papers in the time before the sun came up in Warren, Ohio.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the second installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

Story 4.The Rainbow Bridge  … In the popular story, the four-legged pet is supposed to go to this “heavenly”place first and wait for his master to cross. In my brother’s case, Jim went first and only had to wait a couple of months before his heart-broken dog, Larry, crossed.

Story 5. I lost it.  What do you do? I moved to a new city and was waiting for my family to join me. In the interim, I played golf and lost my wedding ring, who knows where. What would you do? This was our very first move ---from her home town in Massachusetts to a city in Indiana.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the second installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

Story 3 - An innocent wounded --- the New Year was 1953 (2.8). This is how a promising relationship ended from an overprotective mother and another relationship that was on its last legs because the father didn’t care…enough.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the first installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Innocents All.”   

Story One:  The ring… The Depression had begun. My mother bought my father and expensive gift: a ring that probably set her back $50 at the time. Black onyx with his initial on top. White gold. Inside she engraved AC (Adeline Cagley) to GC (George Cagley) and dated it 8/20/30, the first birthday they’d been together after their marriage 10/26/29, three days before Black Tuesday. The ring came to me in 2007. What a treasure! Then I lost it. But I had help in that quest.

An innocent out and about on New Year’s Eve 1951… I was 17 and had nothing to do for the evening. I was bound and determined to make the night memorable somehow.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the tenth and final installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Windows On The World.”   

Nine love letters to Jackie from Paris: Yes, France. Did I keep a copy? Not really. I wrote them in a notebook first, worked on them, then sent them away. Kept the notebook.

Epilogue: This collection is named after the restaurant that once was on the 106th and 107th floors atop the World Trade Center. It was a special place, and we are all sad that it is gone, as well as the lives that are gone as well after 9/11. Anyway, the view was incredible, a look at the world from a unique perspective.  I still think it’s a hoot, though, that people go up in buildings like that---and still the Empire State building ---pay money to look down and see how small things and people are on the ground below. 

At any rate, these stories were my windows on a more personal world---as in the story behind Bonjour Tristesse and my love letters to my wife. 

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at 

[email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Tales By Tom. This is the nineth installment of Tom Cagley Sr's short story collections entitled, “Windows On The World.”   

We have two stories in this edition.  They are:

Oh, Canada: The mosquitoes up there can carry away small Volkswagens but I had a couple of unusual  experiences in the land to our north, ey?

There have been angels in my life that didn’t have wings: I have had many in my life, more than I know, I bet. This tells you about a few of them, including my father’s 2nd wife (can you believe it?) and my 1st wife.

I encourage you to provide feedback on these stories or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Check out the podcast http://www.talesbytom.com and on downloadable iTunes at http://bit.ly/yk9BC 

The music is a song titled "Rhapsody" by Andy Guthrie and was supplied Music Alley from Mevio (www.musicalley.com).

See you in two weeks!