Maddelynne Baird stopped at the junction as usual, waiting for the lights. An early evening moon, whiter than all the laundry and shining tiled bathrooms of her workday, lifted her mood from weary to pensive. “This is where I stand,”… Continue Reading
I turn my sunken cheek onto the warm concrete and see you down the sidewalk in your fluorescent shorts and tank top, squinting at my fallen body and calculating your odds of getting back to your run. Maybe you are… Continue Reading
If you asked Aliou what he wanted from life, he would know what to tell you. He would stand straight and say: “Sir, I want to go to university”. And he wouldn’t be lying. Not exactly. When his uncles were… Continue Reading
I have all my memories stored in jars, lined up in date order. One for each year; their sizes vary depending on how many memories I have for each year. When the girls were young, and Tim was still alive,… Continue Reading
We hadn’t spoken since we returned from the hospital. Ma and I lay side by side on our backs on a narrow bed in the guest room of my sister’s house. There was no place to even hold hands in… Continue Reading
Wake up. Turn off your alarm. Do not open Instagram. You’ll waste twenty minutes and the high-fibre breakfast you had every intention of making will be substituted with a coffee-to-go that you can’t afford. Brush your teeth. Pee. Pull out… Continue Reading
Today was the Fourth of July. Again. With picnics and band music in the park. Dancing in the gazebo. Firecrackers. Watermelon and cherry pie, Families and friends with clothing stained red. I’m smiling, nursing memories, swaying with the music. “Beautiful,… Continue Reading
A million walking corpses migrated on foot to that arid, dusty hellhole, forced from their huts and rural hovels by persistent drought and growing famine. They were ragged, unwashed. To my newly-arrived colleagues, the stench was overwhelming. But then personal… Continue Reading
She didn’t see it when the bird flew in her window. One moment she was driving her little coupe down the boulevard and wondering where her daughter might be this time, and the next there was a flutter and a… Continue Reading
Inside the hay maze, it was complete darkness after the first turn. I would’ve gone with him, but it was difficult to fit my whole body in the tunnel. Stacked wall to the ceiling with bales of hay, the entryway… Continue Reading