CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Songs for the Children

December 13, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

“Good morning, Crabby Appleton, how do you feel today? Will you laugh and squeal and smile at me, or will you growl and bark and bray?” — CJ Woods, III My lean and football-hardened 14-year-old grandson planted his 150-pound body onto his mother’s lap, an almost nightly ritual between the … Read More

The Hanover Hurricanes

December 6, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

“Imani’s practice is 6:30 to 8:00.” The Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, my daughter called to reiterate what she had told me the night before about my granddaughter’s soccer practice. I was visiting in New Jersey and my grandbeauties’ parents were at work, comfortable with leaving the septuagenarian to shuttle the … Read More

Walking on Purpose

November 29, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

The white car cruised to a halt near me and the driver’s side window slid down. The man in the car asked me, “Do you want a ride?” I paused on my walk up the slight hill leading from my daughter’s apartment complex and declined her neighbor’s offer. “Thanks, but … Read More

Thankful

November 22, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

The woman called out to me as I passed her house, rushed down her steps and came to the fence that surrounded her front yard. “I meant to tell you when I saw you the other day: You look good with the white in your (goatee).” I was startled, then … Read More

Pram Problems

November 15, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

The gray car rushed northward on Arlington street toward the red light at Washington; the driver of the gray car poked its snout into the eastbound lane, looking to make a right turn on red. The woman driving the gray car snapped her head to the left, westward, looking for … Read More