I am hungry because Wendy told me I can’t eat before she draws my blood. My waiting room overlooks the blue Pacific. I had asked Wendy several times if I could come to visit her here, but she was evasive… Continue Reading
Colin remained seated in the pew, watching the congregation file out with smiles and nods and murmurs. Religion wasn’t exactly his thing, but in this situation he hadn’t been sure what else to do. His usual methods of crisis management… Continue Reading
Gwen took a sip of her Earl Grey — the only drink this abominable café couldn’t stuff up — then glanced at her watch and shook her head. Tardiness was the height of rudeness in her book, even though, unfortunately,… Continue Reading
The AV system is still on, showing a YouTube video of the Vietnam Draft lottery from 1969. Slips of paper pulled from a bowl. A series of unlucky birthdays. You ask the students: do you hear your birthday? “Raise your… Continue Reading
Two summers ago, Mom and I flew to Chicago, where Aunt Cathy had lived for years. Mom’s only sibling was younger, twenty pounds lighter, single, and obsessed with cosplay. Cathy traveled to comic book conventions, Renaissance Faires, and movie premieres.… Continue Reading
I was lying in bed, wiggling my new loose tooth, when I started thinking about the Tooth Fairy. I was just trying to slide into sleep before my parents started fighting in the next room, but all of a sudden… Continue Reading
The radio coughed and sputtered. Perhaps, muttered. So many rhyming sounds in the language. The vehicle, perhaps an automobility, exhaled too. I prayed it wouldn’t expire. I needed it for two more hours. Without tunes my creative juices evaporate. It’s… Continue Reading
You promise to have my name inked on your skin someday and I say I wouldn’t ever do the same for you or for anyone at all. It is way too clichéd and the cost of having a tattoo removed… Continue Reading
I’ve held hundreds of hands. The meaty palms of a baker. The calloused knuckles of rock climbers. The peeling cuticles of mothers with teething babies. I think the woman was a waitress. The scar of a burn framed the underside… Continue Reading
I walk in. They hand me a name badge. Immediately I ask myself why am I attending my fiftieth college reunion? The few who aren’t dead look like they should be. I’m gone. No boring stories, bad food and cheap… Continue Reading