The cold bites down on us with teeth like razors. I sit in my boyfriend's kitchen cradling a hot cup of coffee, and I look out the window above the sink toward the rooftops in their neat rows along the neighboring streets. The steam from the coffee tickles my chin and bears to my nose … Continue reading Coffee on a Frigid Morning
Author: Katie Baker
Book Review: The Fiery Cross
by Diana Gabaldon 🌟🌟🌟🌟&1/2 Recommend to lovers of historical fiction I always love my excursions back into the world of the Frasers. However, I downgraded this book to four and a half stars because I felt the story just wasn't as tight this time around. In fact, it's rather hard to give a synopsis of … Continue reading Book Review: The Fiery Cross
Keep a Free Mind
Breathe in. Breathe out. It will be okay as long as you just catch your breath. Look up into the sky. Clear blue sky. Endless blue sky. Sunshine against the side of your face. Stand for a moment and listen. The world speaks. A squirrel twitters from the tree branches somewhere behind you. The wind … Continue reading Keep a Free Mind
The Note on the Counter
He left the note sitting on the island counter top where, by the time she woke up, it had gathered a small pool of sunlight to itself from the window above the sink. The sight of it took her breath away in a sickening whoosh when she stumbled from her bedroom. Dear Cass, it read, … Continue reading The Note on the Counter
The Return
I had forgotten how differently paced life is when you must go into the office to work. From the moment you wake up, you feel as if you cannot catch your breath. Is there enough time to get my run in? ... Did I remember to lay out all of my clothes last night?... Meal … Continue reading The Return
Nature’s Cold Quilt
At the corner of Hamilton and Third, we find it. The soul of the snow storm. Around us the houses are quiet and dark. Most people have gone to bed by now, but out here the world is filled with snow light and the hiss of the flakes as they sift down through the trees. … Continue reading Nature’s Cold Quilt
Conversation in a Bathroom
The bathroom is cold, the stalls cramped together. Heather hears the door bang open just as she finishes, and the walls to the stall shake as the newcomer slams herself into the toilet beside Heather’s. Heather frowns as she exits and moves toward the sink. Sniffles echo from the stall that the newcomer has taken. … Continue reading Conversation in a Bathroom
Cold Kindness
Mateson stands at the gas pump debating. The early morning cold is enough to tingle the mucus in his nose as it freezes. When he left his house this morning, he had only enough money to fill his gas tank and perhaps buy lunch. The gas tank would get him to work for the rest … Continue reading Cold Kindness
That Perfect Something
January cold has come to roost here in the North. It makes everything so much more complicated. Just to step outside and scatter ice melt on my frozen driveway takes about forty-five minutes of preparation and just as many layers of clothing. My mornings runs become afternoon runs because of a negative wind chill factor, … Continue reading That Perfect Something
Conversation Outside a Funeral Parlor
Marie walks up the partially cleared sidewalk out front of the funeral home. It is already dark outside and the lights in the windows glow golden and inviting. She places her cane and tries to straighten her back for her sister’s sake— the one who has passed. A slow trickle of people step up from … Continue reading Conversation Outside a Funeral Parlor
Seeking Prose 