It’s hot and humid on the last day of August. It’s even hotter inside the small dance hall in Santa Rosa de Aguan, the village on a peninsula bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the front side and the Aguan… Continue Reading
The thing about dipping a headless chicken in a vat of boiling water is you have to get the temperature just right. Too cold and the feathers won’t come off; too hot and the skin starts to peel. You sort… Continue Reading
“Dad? Can you hear me? Do you know if he can hear us?” “I always say to my patients’ families: assume they can. Even if it doesn’t register so well, assume there’s a comfort in hearing your loved ones.” It… Continue Reading
From the closet, I remove the wedding dress my mother made for me thirty years ago. I wanted a form-fitting bodice flaring into a three-tiered ruffled skirt. She sewed a basic bell-shaped gown. You slip into the dress. I zip… Continue Reading
The Artifact hung just below the massive orb of the planet Jupiter. Astronaut Dave Roman made some minor attitude adjustments to his tiny pod and fired the thrusters. This close, you could see the tumult of the Jovian clouds, the… Continue Reading
The crash had crumpled the carbon fiber frame, shredding the car’s chassis. Fire, extinguished now, had melted glass, scorched titanium intakes, and bubbled the smartpaint into a gooey ooze that still flickered in spots with colorful video images of cool… Continue Reading
Tara was just returning to work after lunch. She’d eaten a turkey sandwich, drunk her lemon iced tea, and walked six laps around the park before watching the ducks for the final five minutes of her one-hour break. The same… Continue Reading
I forgot to have breakfast before I left. That combined with rising, overwhelming nerves about my upcoming appointment — I had a profound fear of having my eyes poked and prodded, those hulking optometry machines full of refracting lenses, deeply… Continue Reading
I saw you last night. It was after the operation and you wore a pink nightgown. You were cutting your toenails with a pair of silver scissors. You look good, I said. So, the operation went well? You were gathering… Continue Reading
Dear Clarissa, Do not be surprised to receive a letter from the stepsister you once scorned. How could I not write when I heard of the terrible reversal of your fate? As I picture you sitting in a dark, dank… Continue Reading