“Uh, I’m not supposed to have people over when Mom isn’t home,” Callum said as Ashlyn pushed past him and climbed the steps to his back door. His stomach clenched at the thought of breaking one of Mom’s rules already,… Continue Reading
Two raindrops race down the glass. I watch, silently calling their progress like it’s the Preakness. The man across from me waxes faux-poetic about my shape, my skin, my eyes. I don’t have words, they’re swallowed by his voice before… Continue Reading
Maria stood in the driveway of her tiny home, a sturdy, red-handled broom in hand. A storm had passed through. Brown spotted leaves, pine needles, the lost blooms of pink impatiens and assorted scatterlings were before her in random piles,… Continue Reading
The overcoat immediately draws your attention. It is bright green like a tropical parrot. The coat extends from the soles of Ella Blunstein’s shoes to the hull of her prickly chin, topped by a faux mink collar. She wears a… Continue Reading
Her last name escapes me. Milagros something from the depths of Guatemala. She sits on a metal folding chair, shoveling plastic spoonfuls of rice and beans from a paper plate on her lap into the mouths of her two pre-schoolers.… Continue Reading
Samantha had spent the last week in suspension, waiting for doctors and nurses to give her some kind of real information instead of vague hints and reassurances. Her laptop, journal, and book had gone untouched in her bag. She had… Continue Reading
Not long ago, I saw my neighbor Ed Mancini sitting alone inside his Subaru in the parking lot outside the Bank of America branch here in Bowman’s Corner. Ed was staring straight ahead out the front windshield, lost in thought… Continue Reading
1. We live in a summer resort town. In the winter, no one is around but us and the workers at the flour mill. For our exercise, we jog laps in the drained lazy river at the water park. Sometimes,… Continue Reading
“It was humid and stuffy inside the Magach tank that sat on the ridge of Golan Heights, where rocky hills separate Israel from Syria. Abraham sat beside me, cleaning dust off his specs with a piece of cloth; they were… Continue Reading
Before Norman went to college, he’d never been out of the Bronx, and even during his undergraduate years he rarely ventured south of the City College campus. It was an uncle, his mother’s older brother, who found him the lead. … Continue Reading