Isabella rises at first light, as always. Fifty years in the same house. Seventy years with the same man, now passed. Nine children. Four boys, four girls, living. One boy dead. Drowned. Or was it a fire? “Aye,” she whispers,… Continue Reading
Butterfly Boy is watching TV in the trailer park house he shares with his ma, Jeannie. His castle is guarded by a moat of cigarette butts and beer bottles. His face is brown like hers, but the bandages covering his… Continue Reading
When I crooked my neck to check on my six-year-old daughter Maggie, I found her standing in the aisle near a tidy swim trunk display. She peered up through curls of overgrown bangs at a young male mannequin. His fiberglass… Continue Reading
He built his first house for Sophia. The love of his life. The swan. The gliding angel whose voice was like silk. He built big, against an expansive canvas of hills and fields. A place a little way out of… Continue Reading
Teardrops of snow danced in the night to the melody of the wind, spiraling toward the earth by the thousands. Angela watched the storm by candlelight from the window in her living room, sipping hot chocolate. She figured the candy… Continue Reading
Tommy bolted out of the parking garage elevator as soon as the door opened. A man waiting outside the elevator stood with mouth agape as he watched the toddler fly past him. I dashed after my son. Clad in a… Continue Reading
It’s close to ten years since I last saw him. And now, here he is, standing where I need to be standing. And there’s a part of me that wants to hide behind a tree, to wait until he’s gone.… Continue Reading
It kills me, sometimes, how people can hate me so much and still be oblivious of me. Every once in a while, a forlorn soldier will acknowledge me with a nod, the relief and recognition clear in their exhausted irises.… Continue Reading
His cheque arrived in the mail this morning. Punctual. The way it is every six months. A note folded inside it that just says: I’m sorry. I stand by the letterbox, staring at it a while, blinking back tears, remembering.… Continue Reading
Mom scrambles across the room half-tripping over her own feet. She lifts his head and begins to attempt to pry the un-chewed hot dog from his throat. Beating on his chest and blowing her own breath into his mouth, she… Continue Reading