When I was nineteen, my father began to talk about dying. “You’ll be the head of the house once I’m gone,” he’d say. “Don’t let those shysters at the funeral parlour take my money. Bury me behind the chicken coop… Continue Reading
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. —King James Bible, 1611, Matthew, 5:15. Inasmuch as the recent events surrounding the Lady Arlene (if indeed, that… Continue Reading
So, our adopted daughter Tabitha has been kidnapped, and my husband Frank and I are waiting for the call. At least we think she’s been kidnapped. Her Gucci bag, her women’s size Christian Louboutin shoes, and a favorite large diamond… Continue Reading
Every household has at least one bag of bones they try to hide under a pile of winter clothes. On the other hand, my family is so pleased with our fleshless corpse that we proudly display the skull, femur, and… Continue Reading
She had never held her head higher than when she stepped through the gilded double doors, red cape flowing behind her. Her reception at the unloading area had been warmer than she’d dreamt of in her most crazed delusions of… Continue Reading
“I’m so happy I can do this for you, daddy,” Amanda said as she approved the transaction. Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money, but it was worth it. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of finally… Continue Reading
After a week at vacation bible school and another at science camp, you come home asking where life really began. In a snake-infested garden or the petri dish of the sea? Never one to take a hard line with an… Continue Reading
The unexpected blow knocked me to the ground on my back and I landed on the hay. Before I could get up, I had him on top of me, panting and drenching me with his repulsive alcoholic breath. I tried… Continue Reading
“I’m telling you, there was nothing in my cornfield last night except corn, and this morning there was the angel, sitting up on top of her pedestal like an oversized canary on a marble perch, looking all mopey.” “So, Mister… Continue Reading
I walked down the airplane aisle, feeling good in my favorite blue-flowered dress I had worn to work that day, trying to maneuver my carry-on bag so that it did not hit the people who were already seated. The smug… Continue Reading