“What will you do with Jack’s… Jack?” Jenny stumbled. Helen glanced at the urn on the mantelpiece. Her blue eyes moistened. “I need to give it some serious thought.” Jenny blushed. “Of course,” she said. “I’m not putting it off.… Continue Reading
I’d not seen Neil for a couple of years when, one Saturday in November, he called my home phone. He had, he said, a few days off at the end of his band’s European tour. How did a catch-up sound?… Continue Reading
It’s Friday morning. December and cold. The kind of cold that chews at your bones and scrapes the skin from your face with the precision of a rusty chainsaw. I’m getting coffee from the station near Barry’s office. Barry is… Continue Reading
Food is more than nourishment. You can survive on boiled spelt and fried dandelion greens, but that’s like driving the freeway in a wheelchair. Chili, Stella told me, is one of those dishes that come on like a runaway truck… Continue Reading
I can’t be alone tonight. Sleep is not an option with this bitterness screeching through my brain in frenzied orbit. It’s warped I know, but perhaps if we slept together one last time, basked in the happy hormone after-chill, got… Continue Reading
It’s just like Egypt, Miri thought, but not in a good way. Not in the sense of impending freedom, miracles or victory. No, every spring Miri was passed over for older, smarter siblings and younger, cuter cousins. At ten she… Continue Reading
It’s the house I was raised in, and nothing has changed. The grass around the flowerbed is cut short and neatly edged like me. My father’s ’67 Camaro is in the driveway, plum-crazy-purple, recently waxed. He leaves the cover off… Continue Reading
Your neighbor’s the one that starts the whole thing. He’s got a friend at the newspaper, he says, always on the lookout for human interest stories and your dog, he says, would fit the bill. But the dog’s not human,… Continue Reading
“MATT!” Sam Sworen’s bellow thundered over the intercom. Under the purplish fluorescent lighting in his cube, Matt cringed. He’d transferred to this office a month ago, but already he regretted it. With a heavy sigh, Matt smoothed his hair, straightened… Continue Reading
Gas hissed from the valve under the unmistakable sign: FLAMMABLE. Sydney struck another match, only to watch it go out. “Damn it! Why won’t any of you light?” Alone, more alone than ever, she tried again. And again. Luck still… Continue Reading