Flashbulbs popped, momentarily blinding me. The crowd roared. I shook my head. I shook it again. Blood blotched my chest like large brushfuls of paint. My cornerman fanned me with a luminous towel he almost threw into the ring before… Continue Reading
From above, Tina imagines she and Tony look like fleas on the spine of a slumbering beast. In their drab hiking attire, they’d merge with the landscape were it not for their backpacks — his blue, hers pink. Up close,… Continue Reading
When Rhianna saw the first dead bird on the front step she sighed and bent down to where the bird lay on the morning’s newspaper with its wings outstretched, as if it were still flying; soaring down from the top… Continue Reading
I was about to give up when the hold music — a few looping bars of infuriating non-jazz — abruptly cut out. “Hello, Lost Drafts,” a voice said. I fumbled with the receiver. “Hi, I uh… I was told to… Continue Reading
Sunday, 9/9 The date had been circled on my calendar for months. The night before my flight from Nashville to NYC I used a red ballpoint to circle the word Tuesday and the number eleven. And then again and again… Continue Reading
“How can Paris be full?” said Miranda when Bernard translated ‘Complet’. They were at the Gare Du Nord, staring at the notice outside the tourist bureau. Bernard went in and she watched through the window. At least a dozen people… Continue Reading
We were traveling from one end of the country to the other. It was first light in a town I’d never been in, Santa Fe. I was walking the dog near downtown after walking the brick trail down from the… Continue Reading
Could someone paint a picture of my dogs? The big white fluffy one is Marshmallow. My husband, Rob, picked her out, even though he never wanted a dog (you have to walk them, they eat their own puke). But, I… Continue Reading
They did not ask her, they told her. Be ready tomorrow, light clothing; layers, they said. Bel wasn’t sure they even told her where they were going. Bobby came in, looked at her and backed out. “Mum,” she heard him… Continue Reading
There was the completely avoidable car accident that resulted in the death of our friend Jonah, then there was the funeral, followed by the reception at his mom’s townhouse where everyone kept crying and Jonah’s attractive sister Leah went around… Continue Reading