If I hadn’t lost my job, I wouldn’t be wearing a dead man’s clothes. If I hadn’t punched my supervisor, I’d still be a wage slave. With my new circumstances, all my duds come from a second-hand store. But with… Continue Reading
I was eleven years old when I learned that penguins, in fact, are incapable of flight. It may seem like a mundane — even embarrassing — revelation, but to me, it changed the course of my life. Five years prior… Continue Reading
A sudden blanket of sunlight nearly dragged the exhausted companions to their knees. The grips of the Endless Forest now out of reach behind them, the three proceeded west. A steady, refreshing breeze kept their spirits up, though they could… Continue Reading
The ladder, patches of bright orange demarcating safety, stands fully extended but abandoned on a creosote-laden telephone pole, mid-block, in a trendy retail area. I pause my empty walk, grateful to see something like me. Others, on their own walks,… Continue Reading
My friend Tyler told me he hated Darren, the ten-year-old boy in our neighborhood with a cape. Hated that he brandished a sword made from the cardboard pole of paper towels. Hated that his sheath was a deep fanny pack… Continue Reading
For Mom and Dad. Thank you for reading to me. A Hundred Easy Lessons, and these have shaped me most. On my fifth birthday, Mom gave me an imagination. It was made up of dusty pages from old books, broadsword… Continue Reading
Moose’s snoring is quieter than a mass shooting in a shopping mall, but not by much. Tiny shakes him. “For goodness sake, I can’t sleep.” Moose rolls towards Tiny, kisses him on the shoulder and slides a hand down his… Continue Reading
Sometimes when I’m standing behind the counter of Value Video, my eyes glued on the screen of one of the televisions suspended over the store, the mute faces talking on and on, I think about what I’d say if an… Continue Reading
The woman leapt from the top of the burning building. The flames reddened the faces of the watching crowd. The heat pushed them back. The woman hit the ground. The crowd oooooed. If only I’d been a firewoman, I thought,… Continue Reading