i. It was a pleasant spring after the hard winter of the break-up with Colin. Getting him out was impossible, so I moved to a smaller apartment. I was a bit worried about securing the kid, but Colin was crushed… Continue Reading
From the day we moved into the house, I could sense we weren’t alone. My husband jokingly calls me “his little psychic,” and trivializes my perceptions, so I resolved this time to keep silent. The house was offered fully furnished… Continue Reading
He sits down next to me at the picnic table, his back against the red-and-white checkered tabletop, his long legs extending out on the grass. He turns to me and smiles the friendly smile of a man who is comfortable… Continue Reading
When Professor Albright retired at the turn of the 21st century, his favorite students helped him load his car. Two of the college boys carried out the antique yellowed skeleton in a seated position with an arm around each of… Continue Reading
Protesters waved placards outside the museum, where civilization had memorialized ancient barbarism. Others might march against climate change or corrupt politicians; these, disgusted by the indignities inflicted for so long on the indigenous, demanded that the aborigine’s bones should not… Continue Reading
Willy woke up early that morning. It was going to be a big day. He looked around the room for his uniform, but couldn’t find it, so he put on the same clothes he had worn yesterday. It didn’t matter,… Continue Reading
Mom’s ashes are in the urn on the table, and I smile with my lips at people who hold pieces of her. I am greedy for every fragment, but hugs are extortion. “She never got to be a grandmother,” one… Continue Reading
Marlene came home to an empty house and a scrawled note from Stanley. “Meet me at the duck pond at 6:30.” Of course she knew which duck pond. During their nearly twenty-six years of marriage, they’d only ever visited the… Continue Reading
Tiny is the first female marine on the new 1911 base. I spot her the day she arrives, hair long, dog tags fresh and shiny. She has no idea what she’s getting into on this base, or maybe she does.… Continue Reading
The ocean here is wrong. When I complain about it, they tell me it’s because the atmosphere is different. Thinner, with an exotic composition that carries soundwaves differently from back home. I think it’s more than that. For one thing,… Continue Reading