“The realtor says your house will be listed tomorrow.” Mom ignores me. We both sit, enthralled by the blank TV screen, in the living room of her apartment. She moved to the independent-living section of this old-folks village six months… Continue Reading
Willy woke up early that morning. It was going to be a big day. He looked around the room for his uniform, but couldn’t find it, so he put on the same clothes he had worn yesterday. It didn’t matter,… Continue Reading
Honey, come in, come in. Set yourself down in that old rocker to the side of my bed. It’s good to see a young face around here. Help yourself to a cookie out of that tin if you’re hungry. So… Continue Reading
Juanita eases the old woman into the rocker, its tiny nails tightly securing the branches and twigs that form its construction. The slats of the chairback shape the old woman’s spine, sitting her as straight as she’d been, so many… Continue Reading
Grandma’s cell phone was full of dead people when I found it. I suppose that’s the way things work out over time, though. I’ve got one in my phone now too, although it wasn’t always like that. It started two… Continue Reading
Before Norman went to college, he’d never been out of the Bronx, and even during his undergraduate years he rarely ventured south of the City College campus. It was an uncle, his mother’s older brother, who found him the lead. … Continue Reading
Everybody has a backstory. I know because I dole them out for a living. I borrow pieces of lives from people I know and combine them with kernels from my mind to make characters for my stories. My current story,… Continue Reading
Today, Ash Wednesday, has been declared No Smoking Day to help those giving up for Lent. There is no Mass in our little hamlet because the local priest looks after seventeen parishes. At reception I check in as a visitor… Continue Reading
“It never blinks.” Fred and John were playing chess. John glanced at Fred, and then at the security camera Fred was staring at. “The camera?” John asked, not hiding the slight irritation in his voice. Fred’s preoccupation with the newly… Continue Reading
The scene was starting to materialize — a dappled draft horse emerging from the shade of a covered bridge. Mildred loved the proud arch of his neck, the way the brass harness fittings glistened in the summer sun. She squinted… Continue Reading