She was the wrong size. Everything about her was too much. She’d been told so all her life. For example, her words were too many and too big. “Not you, someone else,” her teacher said when she knew the answers… Continue Reading
The homeless man at the interchange is a veteran too and that makes me uncomfortable, especially today. His unkempt beard hangs past his collar and weaves with the fraying strands of his jacket. Headphones adjust themselves over ears, eyes glance… Continue Reading
I know if Andy and Buddy could see me now, they’d kick my ass. But I can’t help it. She’s beautiful. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a girl this beautiful. Problem’s she’s colored. That’s why they’d kick my ass.… Continue Reading
Early, too early, sudden alarm blaring, we swim up through the dim softness of sleep and we are awake. Breakfast in the dark, no coffee, bag packed and out the door into the underwater predawn light, the oaks and dogwoods… Continue Reading
Millie said he’d be lonely out in the hallway, so Guido stayed in our room. My arms around his chest and Millie lifting his ankles, we moved him across to the kitchenette and arranged him on the spare chair, his… Continue Reading
A new year has dawned and there are dinosaurs in the streets of Vienna. I climb from the underground station, up the wide, worn, stone stairs. The icy fingers of a Vienna January dance down the open promenade of Mariahilfer… Continue Reading
What was I expecting when I pulled into the driveway: a Victorian Gothic pile looming like the house behind the Bates Motel? It was a yellow ranch-style house with a tidy lawn. Nothing about its prosaic exterior suggested the Monster… Continue Reading
My sister Bailey’s breathing is steady at night. I wait for it to change from shallow to the deep breaths of full R.E.M. She sleeps on her side. Her shoulder forms the smoky mountains sloping gently under the sheet. The… Continue Reading
Something in the refrigerator smells sour-oniony and off, she realizes as the door shuts. She’ll have to take care of it tomorrow. Not now. Now that the door is shut, she cannot open it again. She doesn’t want to start… Continue Reading
Today, Ash Wednesday, has been declared No Smoking Day to help those giving up for Lent. There is no Mass in our little hamlet because the local priest looks after seventeen parishes. At reception I check in as a visitor… Continue Reading