When Johnny was ten he stole his father’s screwdrivers and hammered them into trees so he could climb them. He took the powder out of his dad’s bullets for the bombs he made to strap onto chickens. He got his… Continue Reading
78 days ago. That morning, I had burned my tongue on my coffee which already had too much cream in it. I remember this because the pain was something that I could focus on. Something besides his leaving. Usually, when… Continue Reading
I was scratching under the stiff collar of my Sunday dress when Toby, our bulldog, growled. He raised his hackles and stared into our empty fireplace. That’s when the two round lights floated right out of the chimney. They spun… Continue Reading
The room is dark, nearly black. There ‘s no electricity. The sound of sex from the next room overrides the breathy silence of bodies passed out around me. I try to keep warm, snuggling with my friend, Alicia. We share… Continue Reading
There’s a dog in the street. A cocker spaniel, I think. His head is flat and a tire track runs down the middle of his back. When Marilyn and I were first married, we rescued a cocker spaniel from the… 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
He always calls me on my birthday. My brother. Even though he’s been dead ten years. I wait, every year, not knowing what time of day he might call, or from what number. It’s always a different number. I imagine… Continue Reading
Elizabeth belonged to Trina’s grandfather. She was eighty-two years old, although Trina would never have guessed it to look at her; she looked old-fashioned, but not old. Trina played with Elizabeth every Christmas when they visited Grampa, although she was… Continue Reading
“Emma, no!” she gasped, her own voice awakening her. Not again. Usually the Ambien knocked her out enough to escape this recurring nightmare, but tonight her sister had invaded even her pink pill dreams. Avery pulled off her eye mask… Continue Reading