Madison didn’t sit in her usual spot by the window. She didn’t say anything to Sophia about the video she’d sent her of Charli vomiting in the girl’s bathroom. Elijah didn’t announce his late entry to class with raised hands… Continue Reading
When she realised the neighbours weren’t home, she rushed to wash the windows. Shegathered a bucket, the latex-free gloves, a couple of rags and the squeegee. She filled the bucketwith warm water, squirted washing up liquid in and disturbed the… Continue Reading
It was a cold October day when Lily told me she was going to die. I still remember the chill of the wind on my face as I looked up at her in surprise. A moment before I had been… Continue Reading
I’m trying to make the dead fit on one page. A wheelchair handle is cropped. In the photo of Maude wearing a pink lei at a cookout, the mountainous background gets a buzzcut, a tight green fade. My mouse drags… Continue Reading
I could picture it clearly. I’d hear her squeaky-trainer footsteps on the landing. She’d put her head round my bedroom door. She’d widen her eyes at me — her version of a smile, an ‘I’m-glad-to-see-you, let-me-take-you-in’ sort of gesture. She’d… Continue Reading
“I don’t understand poetry,” Sam told Leonard, his best friend since elementary school. “Yeah. Who does?” Leonard replied, chuckling. The two of them were sitting in lawn chairs in Sam’s back yard, watching the barbeque fire get hot enough for… Continue Reading
“It’s a little early, even for you.” Susan’s right. Even for me. I smile sheepishly. “It’s Friday.” I don’t tell her it’s my second. I don’t tell her why. I don’t tell her about you. “It’s always Friday with you,… Continue Reading
He cried when he was born. Mom had said so. But don’t all newborns cry? Leaving warmth and safety for the cold, bright world? He cried in his cot before going to sleep. Yeah, Mom had told him that, too.… Continue Reading
“Dad? Can you hear me? Do you know if he can hear us?” “I always say to my patients’ families: assume they can. Even if it doesn’t register so well, assume there’s a comfort in hearing your loved ones.” It… Continue Reading
On the train between Newton Abbot and Topsham, Jimmy Vincetore was thinking about the same journey he had made the previous week, same line, same stops, same time of the night. The main difference was that last week he had… Continue Reading