The first time, my Lutheran pastor’s wife went downtown to the bars to drink and pick up men. He lost his wife and his congregation. The second time, my pastor’s wife ran off with her first cousin and divorced my pastor. She returned and they remarried. The third time, she left for a woman, also leaving her two sons. My pastor and his wife divorced again. For the next six months he shoveled horse manure to clear his mind and his nasal passages. After that he said, “Shoveling horse shit is  the best therapy.” Now, he is a minister again.

 

Jim Krotzman is a retired English teacher at Watertown (WI) High School. He is a struggling haiku poet and fisherman.