The red helmet was missing. They looked for it inside the barn next to the playground, in the gym store, and all over the small building that housed their classrooms. But it had simply disappeared. This was an inconvenience, because… Continue Reading
The Mother marched her son past the kettles and toasters. “I’m returning him,” she told the sales assistant. “This child is not suitable.” The boy fidgeted with the buttons on his school blazer, lip trembling. “Stop fiddling, Jeremy!” The Mother… Continue Reading
I was eleven years old when I learned that penguins, in fact, are incapable of flight. It may seem like a mundane — even embarrassing — revelation, but to me, it changed the course of my life. Five years prior… Continue Reading
We are hungry, so hungry we could eat the whole world. Everything smells like ketchup. We could eat the trees, we could eat the sun. The glass lights on the deck twinkle like little candy stars, and we could eat… Continue Reading
Kayla tried to quell her trembling as she stood at the tree house window, balancing a bulbous green water balloon on the business end of a spatula. From below, a peal of raucous laughter heralded the boys’ approach. “They’re coming!”… Continue Reading
Sid’s stout appearance had landed him the role of Hanuman in his elementary school’s abridged re-enactment of Ramayana. He hated his teacher for dabbing his cheeks red with face paint and parading him dressed as a cute little monkey god… Continue Reading
“It’s left foot forward and two steps back.” Cecily looks at her feet. She’s six and a half — seven next Wednesday. Leo says you have to know your left from your right by the time you’re seven or you’ll… Continue Reading