An aged British actor, never selected for a speaking part at the historic Globe theater is finally chosen to play a small role as a Beefeater wearing the complete regalia befitting this employment. His sole line is to yell out, “Hark, is that a cannon I hear?”, but it comes at a crucial time in the play and the words must be projected forcefully to the audience in, well, a yell. It has been the actor’s lifelong dream to enact a part on the Globe stage, even if it is a sliver of a role. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic shuts down all theater attendance in London and the actor is laid off. To bide his time, he chooses to travel to central Africa where he volunteers for about two years as a teacher. Before leaving, he was warned to take plenty of iodine to minimize the chance that his goiter would continue to grow …

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, when he recites, “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio,” he could have been speaking about a current Senator. Hamlet is holding Yorick’s skull and he possibly could see a fracture of the cranial base,

A supreme court justice and his wife accept a generous and kind invitation from a dear Texas billionaire friend to go bird hunting. The Texan owns an expansive range where he stocks game pheasant and, more importantly, he always offers his private jet plane to the busy justice to travel. (Everyone knows that private jet transport eliminates any security risks for the justice.) On the day of the appointed hunt, the justice is assigned a spot approximately 20 yards in front of the Texan before the dogs are set free to activate the pheasants flight in fear from the canines and hunters. The justice, an amateur birder, commits the unpardonable action of turning his gun to his rear to shoot the spooked covey. The justice fires, grazing the billionaire’s face with birdshot. The billionaire feels a small sting on his face (birdshot is the size of a BB, 4.6 mm in diameter), but says nothing in the confusion. Others in the hunting party immediately see a small dribble of blood on the billionaire’s face, but he continues to insist that he feels nothing and wishes to continue with the hunt. The justice, fortunately, does abstain from shooting his gun again and is “nolo contendere” about his guilt.

When Rodin began looking for a model to sit for his masterpiece, The Thinker, he asked one of his artist friends to pose. Rodin specifically requested that the artist think “deep thoughts”, but Rodin did not specify an exact pose that his amateur model should strike. He wanted him to come to a pensive pose naturally. After numerous weeks of trial and error, during which the “model” failed to place his fisted hand on his chin, Rodin grew frustrated. Rodin also noted that the model had grown quite frail, and would hardly eat much; he would spend lots of time chewing.

A former action actor, 70 y.0., turns himself in for arrest procedures at a notorious prison in a Southern state (See image. Any similarities to living individuals is simply coincidental.) Actor is reluctant to take off his wig as requested by prison official because of the sever scalp pain, accompanied by a significant rash, that he has been enduring for several days. He claims to have had sensations of tingling or itching, then the symptoms developed into a full-blown headache accompanied by a fever and upset stomach. Symptoms started after a wild trip to New York, interrupted by a side jaunt to Los Angeles. He does not remember much of what he did …

A 70 yo former star athlete (tennis, golf, swimming, track) in both high school and college, spent the rest of his schooling years drinking, smoking and being the life of the party. He was the invincible one. In fact, it was not uncommon for the athlete to smoke two packs a day, enjoy several martinis at lunch, followed by Manhattans at dinner. Of course, there was also afternoon libations to bridge time between meals. Surprisingly, the athlete did not gain weight, presented in generally good health, and was an accomplished lawyer at a power-house firm in New York City. Until, at his seventieth birthday party …

A 54 yo physician in modest physical shape joins a pickle ball organization of mostly retired people. Although a former NCAA tennis player, she has never played pickle ball but joins to spend time with her mother who is an avid, five-times-per-week player. During one of the matches the physician rushes the net and aggressively smashes the ball at her opponent. The senior opponent moves her racket to protect herself, but the racket flies out of her hand across the net towards the physician hitting her on the face …

A drunken sailor became totally wasted at a Georgetown bar so the bartender asked the bouncer to take him outside. The bouncer recognizes the sailor as a former high school buddy and they began to reminisce about days gone by when they tried to join a travelling circus. After a few tall stories, the sailor recalls the time the bouncer was rehearsing on stage and he slipped, falling onto the first row. His head and neck bounced off of the hard seat and he passed out.