Outside the rain fell hard. A pair of headlights cut through the downpour as a car approached the foster home. A moment later the lights extinguished and a woman emerged. The bell rang and heavy footsteps moved to the door.… Continue Reading
His parents named him David, but his friends on the streets of Key West called him Dougie. He was fifty-five years old but if you didn’t know that you might guess his age at seventy. He was a familiar sight… Continue Reading
It’s taken me twenty years to find the courage to knock on Nigel Crothers’ door, and he lives two streets away from my family home. Heading there now I’m dreading every step, counting each familiar streetlight and paving stone, carrying… Continue Reading
The hat I want to wear — the black one with the little veil — is in the basement. Four-year-old Alice follows me down. She wears a new black jumper and patent-leather shoes. I remind her that we have to… Continue Reading
I glance at my programme: ‘Clairvoyance with Sheila Blackburn’ runs for fifty minutes. Some workshops are included in the ticket price — I arrived early and did Crystal Healing to pass the time — but this one cost another tenner.… Continue Reading
Adele wept. She was re-reading Peach’s email: “Dear Mother, I REFUSE to enable you any longer to believe that my childhood was HAPPY!!!!” In the long, long paragraph that followed, Peach recounted Adele’s many failings; explained that with the help… Continue Reading
The woman limped in on two canes, sat down, sighed, and folded in on herself. We all gave her the once-over, some of us surreptitious, others not. The woman had high cheekbones in a square face. Around her mouth she… Continue Reading
“Knock-knock,” you say. “Who’s there,” she asks. “Boo.” “Boo who?” “Oh, don’t cry,” you say. “It’s only a joke.” She’s twenty years old, the kid sister of one of your classmates from your Trinity College days. She leans in close… Continue Reading
Anna let herself go limp as Katy lifted her into the back of the shopping cart they had just stolen from the grocery store parking lot down the block. “At least all of the weight loss makes it easier to… Continue Reading
Maggie became aware of the presence of her inner child the first day of high school, that September she turned fourteen. Her friends, the girls she hadn’t seen all summer because her aunt Louise had wrangled her a job as… Continue Reading