Great gulps of laughter roll across the yard. They crack among the croquet balls and mallets. Whoops punctuate successful strikes. The sun slips down across the brim of the hill and a nectarine light fills the valley--- all warmth and sweet citrus summertime. It casts the players' shadows long at their feet yet leaves their … Continue reading Remembering Summer Sunshine
Flash
My Friend, David
Looking in at the window, David can see his friend Emily standing on a stool pulled up next to her grandmother's kitchen counter. David is supposed to be on his way home with the soda and chips his step-mom demanded he retrieve for her. If he didn't get back in the time she thought he … Continue reading My Friend, David
When She Wasn’t Looking
Maria knew she wasn't supposed to wander the neighborhood, but one bright and sunny spring day, while she was playing in the playhouse in her backyard, she heard a tiny "meow" mewl from the back alleyway. She thrust her head through the open playhouse window to look. On the other side of the chain link … Continue reading When She Wasn’t Looking
These Things Don’t Help
Airports are so anonymous. People crisscrossing everywhere from all over the globe in this one miniature city in this sprawling campus. Somewhere among this mill of ants are the hundred or so people you’ll spend eight— ten— twelve hours of your life with, but for now they’re grabbing an eighteen dollar burger at the burger … Continue reading These Things Don’t Help
The Looking Glass
A look of distraction passes over my friend’s face in the middle of our girls’ date at a local chain restaurant. Her brows pinch together, and her whole expression slips into distress. Alarmed, I glance over my shoulder, but see only a black clad waiter carrying a wheat-colored, napkin-covered basket of breadsticks. My friend and … Continue reading The Looking Glass
The Crash of Flight
Her spirit would rail against him at times, as if his comforting arms had become shackles. She couldn’t understand where her philosophy and his diverged. Sitting across from him at the cafe table— any cafe table, it’s no matter— a thought or fancy would flit into her mind like a little bird. She would soar … Continue reading The Crash of Flight
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
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
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 