“How could this be happening?” “As I said, it’s a field, not a shield.” “But in the advertisements it looks like a shell of light around the guy’s house.” “Yes, I’m aware of the commercials, Mr. Alderson.” “The tree just… Continue Reading
My younger sister, Julie, sits on my bed cross-legged, watching me pack. Even though it’s only April my ten-year-old sister wears beige shorts, a pink T-shirt over a one-piece bathing suit. The purple pansies on the bathing suit can be… Continue Reading
“Now or never, Cal,” Howser says, hand on hips. The boy’s only got six months on Cal, but has grown lanky like a sapling and those extra few inches give him authority. Cal stops chewing his lip. It’s important to… Continue Reading
The first knife my dad throws at me lands within a couple inches of my right ear. It comes as quite a shock. Not the ‘my dad’s trying to kill me’ part. That’s what he paid fifty dollars to do… Continue Reading
Russell Briggs drove long haul, only one time he ever told me about it though. Drove a big rig three years, until he come down a pass in West Virginia thank god no other cars on the road and out… Continue Reading
Bob woke up early. In the shower, he rehearsed his ten o’clock presentation, a one-page map in his mind, a landscape he would negotiate for an hour and a half — Haines’ Iceberg Theory, the way he had been planning… Continue Reading
We’re nineteen and you can’t sing your favorite song right. He says “she” and, for some reason, you keep singing “me” and laughing about it afterwards. We’re nineteen and you’re laughing out the window of my Jeep at your own… Continue Reading
It was sudden. And that’s what had made it so hard. One moment they were driving down a cozy, country highway and enjoying the quiet companionship that only comes with years. And the next, the car was in the ditch… 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
Beyond the mangled guardrail, the ground dropped steeply away, a mile down to the valley floor. Dan stepped toward it, heart pounding. When he was a child, Dan’s father told him guardrails were braces for roads. They kept all the… Continue Reading