The woman in the photographs is your mother, but you do not recognize her. They are a grainy version of her in black and white, a version from before. From a time when she was almost a girl still, her youth the thing which shocks you the most. Because how can it be? How can […]
Andrew was the boy who smelled like roses. All the time, unequivocally. We had four classes together, and I always passed him in the hall to and from each period. No matter where we were, if he was near, the aroma of roses would be present. It never bothered me, but sometimes, I felt like […]
Dust motes danced in pale shafts of late-afternoon sun slanting through the open drapes of the parlor windows. Less affected by gravity than stale air currents imperceptible to Missy, the particles swirled about the big chair reserved for Unc. They appeared as tiny planets revolving around the imperious figure whom she envisioned lounging there. The […]
Treasure Buried Deep The trees of the forest behind our house smelled like black hickory smoke on the day my father took a length of rope and strung himself from the tallest oak in our yard. I observed, unseen, from the bay window in our kitchen as he dragged our old rusted ladder across the […]
I hung up the kitchen phone. Bert would need that coffee now. I checked his Buckeye Grandpa mug: cool enough. I checked him in his armchair: awake again and highlighting his journal. So I brought the mug on a saucer to his end table. “Here you go.” “Mmmf.” He took a sip with the highlighter […]
The Ohio State Fair that beautiful fall day was a raucous cacophony: children yelling from the thrill rides, carnies shouting out challenges to games of chance, and the whooshing of machines whipping up cotton candy and deep fried Oreos. Eva and Steve, strolling hand in hand down the midway, paid little attention to the noise, […]
Maurice awoke that morning from his dream of a world that no longer existed. He rolled over slowly and sat up in his bed. He rubbed his eyes as he slogged over to the bathroom sink and doused a splash of cold water across his face. He made his way down the descending staircase into […]
He bought me a print for our first anniversary. A seascape from St Ives, our first weekend away together. The frame sat proudly as the centrepiece of the lounge/diner, except when we had dinner parties. Then the lighthouse keeper insisted on sounding his horn so that the plinky beacon noise echoed in the wine glasses. […]
“Looks like murder,” says Cassie, her chubby cheeks jiggling as she nods at the green snake lying dead in the soil. Her eyes look funny, like something is missing from them. At first, I can’t hear what she says because my dad is mowing the grass. He keeps driving the mower over the same three […]
Ralph got the jaguar’s food from the zoo kitchen and loaded it into his cart along with treats for the nearby emus and alpacas. When he was a kid and someone asked, “what’s your favorite animal?” Ralph would pick some random beast—one day it was a tiger and the next a monkey. He didn’t care. […]
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