It’s finally Friday, but it’s fucking Valentine’s Day, and I’m walking across the snow, beneath towering pine trees draped in lime-green wolf lichen, the name of which I learned yesterday, and which is now fifty percent of my knowledge of… Continue Reading
“He’s coming tonight to see you. Can you believe it?” My best friend’s green eyes bore into mine, her face so close I can see every freckle on her nose, smell the cotton candy on her breath. The delight she… Continue Reading
Six firemen slouch in oily booths, still sooty, roaring behind egg sandwiches. Fists bang, eggs burst and drizzle, and helmets spin around like tortoise shells. They wheeze, laughing, because new guy burned his tongue. “It’s third degree,” he moans, as… Continue Reading
I was never good with numbers. In my world, if two trains left the station at the same time going different speeds, the only thing I cared about was whether or not they were on the same track. If they… Continue Reading
“The old orchard was good to us. Nearly 30 years,” my husband sighs. “But the replanted version will be more efficient.” He shoots me a sideways glance, his invitation to ask. “Do tell.” I smile as I angle my eyes… Continue Reading
No matter how many years pile on, I’ll always remember that little girl perched, super-still, on that pristine, red park bench. I must’ve been around her age, seven or eight — maybe, young enough to wonder how a person could… Continue Reading
In summer, the soles of Eva’s feet were permanently stained crimson from playing barefoot under the huge mulberry tree that to her ten-year-old eyes seemed to take up a full half of her backyard. Every day she ran outside, squashing… Continue Reading
Alice had no idea he had taken the photo, at least not at the time. She would see it later though, after it was developed, and they were both married to different people. He must have taken the snap as… Continue Reading
I wake to find the wretchlings waiting for me. It’s always the same. Their red-eyed shadowy forms hover all around. They sap my energy until getting out of bed seems a monumental task. Then, once I do, the wretchlings whisper… Continue Reading
They hadn’t even ordered any food yet and Kate was already wishing she had stayed at home. Her date, older than his photograph, was lecturing her on a film that she “ought to see”. Is this what she had bought… Continue Reading