It’s just like Egypt, Miri thought, but not in a good way. Not in the sense of impending freedom, miracles or victory. No, every spring Miri was passed over for older, smarter siblings and younger, cuter cousins. At ten she… Continue Reading
It’s the house I was raised in, and nothing has changed. The grass around the flowerbed is cut short and neatly edged like me. My father’s ’67 Camaro is in the driveway, plum-crazy-purple, recently waxed. He leaves the cover off… Continue Reading
Ascending in kafi, Aziza’s voice was raw sugar and pomegranate syrup poured through a smoky fire. It caught in your throat when you heard it. It didn’t lift til later. First — Her father was a Sufi Pir — like… Continue Reading
He smiled as he finished wrapping the gift. It hadn’t been as hard as he feared. Satisfied, he brought out his pen and wrote. *** Amanda received the first latticework animal the morning before her sixth birthday. It was sitting… Continue Reading
Uncle Barney had Brillo-y hair he dyed a yellow that isn’t found in nature and a matching handlebar mustache he waxed and curled and kept touching with such fondness that people sometimes looked away. Aunt Myrtle said if he’d spent… Continue Reading
It’s a Sunday morning and I’m in the kitchen stirring up pancake batter, watching little brown ants march along the wall under the windowsill. I’m thinking about herding the ants onto a piece of paper, mixing them into the batter… Continue Reading
Once upon a time, a young man stopped in at Leon’s Neon City and asked for work to tide him over until spring. The shop foreman grinned and winked at one of his journeyman crafters. The fellow winked right back.… Continue Reading
Raheel’s mother Parveen was unmatched for stubbornness but even she crumbled before fate. Yes, she said — the words like a scorpion on her tongue — find a Masood girl for my son. Her sisters had cunningly given birth to… Continue Reading
As a child, our son Timothy told his teachers he was adopted. During adolescence, he wailed in misery, certain that his best friends had moved away. By age twenty, Timothy’s grief sank into glum desolation, and he would lie on… Continue Reading
She hears the fat thump from down the hallway and pokes her head out from the kitchen. Sighs. Then reaches to turn the turnips down and throw her oven mitts on the tabletop. The dead weight of Granny, sunk into… Continue Reading