During our occasional morning recitals in the auditorium, I sat in the front row of the school orchestra. That’s where the teacher always wanted the cellos to sit. You could look out at the audience if you wanted, but mostly… Continue Reading
As Mica walked along the shore, he picked up pebbles with streaks through the middle. Following a path of driftwood led him to a gray cliff veined with white and a streak of gold. Mica knew it was probably pyrite.… Continue Reading
The Christmas tree lights were twinkling. Just a minute, they’re not supposed to do that. Then the room was plunged into darkness. Somebody screamed. It was my niece, obviously. The phrase “we won’t make a drama out of a crisis”… Continue Reading
When Zeynep was just a tiny thing, wobbling around like a just-born calf, she liked all the seasons in equal measure — the cherry blossoms, the dense summer canopies, leaf piles, the conifers strung in lights. The world was surprising… Continue Reading
“That’s odd,” Ann set her phone on the counter, and turned to her husband. “What?” “It’s Mom,” she said as she slid the three-year-old tin closer, wrapping her hands around the colorfully painted Christmas elves on its side. “I joked… Continue Reading
Today was my birthday. My family and friends came for dinner, Charlotte made a cake with those stupid candles you can’t blow out, and then posted a video of me trying to do it, on Facebook. Great gifts, good food,… Continue Reading
It happened at midnight. I was awake, shivering in the corner of the cave, when the first contraction hit me. I hissed, dropping a hand to the curve of my stomach. It’s just a cramp, I half-begged. Instead of fading,… Continue Reading
Your boyfriend made a big show of the real-deal, intricately carved ivory lighter he got as a gift at work. And you wanted to say something about how elephants are endangered, but he was so thrilled about the novelty of… Continue Reading
Swimming his sixty daily laps in the polluted sea, the toxic sea, the radioactive phosphorescent sea, white caps curdling like cottage cheese around his head, Ira takes an inconvenient bullet in the back. The bullet pierces his new shirt and… Continue Reading
“The helplessness I felt when the bombs exploded, and mustard gas crept like ground fog into our trenches is hard to describe,” my Great-Uncle Leo said as we painted his barn red. After I dropped out of college, I became… Continue Reading