The ground shook violently, causing Miranda to stagger and sway. She backed up against the wall to steady herself and heard the heartbreaking sound of her late mother’s good china shattering onto the floor like ice shards. She only ever… Continue Reading
They made love all afternoon in his Manhattan penthouse and then he had to catch a red-eye to Paris at 2:00 AM. But before that he was going to need to bump off a man in Philadelphia and drink a… Continue Reading
Twenty-five years of marriage, and Freddie had never once told Ellen she’d had a good idea. “Not a bad idea,” he’d say, if she suggested two-for-one night at the Taco Palace, or “This isn’t bad at all,” when she served… Continue Reading
That’s him, my friend announces. Her eyes are deep, empty bowls, hungry for something to fill them up, staring at the tall man approaching. He’s dressed in black, commanding in the way that a bird of prey resonates with focus… Continue Reading
My friend Tyler told me he hated Darren, the ten-year-old boy in our neighborhood with a cape. Hated that he brandished a sword made from the cardboard pole of paper towels. Hated that his sheath was a deep fanny pack… Continue Reading
“When the river laps the chook pen, it’s too late to evacuate.” John’s words play on my mind as I peer through the driving rain and watch the river swell. I can see the roof of the chook house, but… Continue Reading
Ever since his wife died, riding the bus became Oscar’s outing for the day. He once enjoyed walking, but his hips made a simple stroll to the corner a painful experience. Hip replacement surgery was discussed by his doctor, but… Continue Reading
Butter sweats. Little force beyond gravity is needed to slice a pat. The knife the two men use seems to fall only through air. A bead of perspiration, its source his brow, follows the trail of its predecessor and veers… Continue Reading
There I was. Again. The only American in a gathering of Aussies. Good people, to be sure. An interesting bunch. Proper and rogue at the same time. Beach-combed and beer splattered. With their telltale accents, so frequently used in the… Continue Reading
Helen plastered the fliers at corner taverns around Hegewisch denouncing the incumbent union official who was running again despite having been suspended earlier that year after having been named in another sexual harassment class action suit, the second major one… Continue Reading