Prodigal Son
“Rachel!” He looked across three rows of tomatoes at me, looking no different from when he was eight years old and I had caught him with his hand in…
Unforgotten, Part 1
I. “I was looking at the birthday cards in the drug store and I noticed all these different cards; some for birthdays, some for graduation, get well;…
Lime Green Pen
Falling in love at first sight is silly. Truly. How can you “love” someone you don’t even know? Seems like a classic case of teenage lust if you ask…
Sailors
The ship had just laid anchor in the harbor. It had been a long journey. The paymaster had reluctantly passed out the wages and the sailors had…
When the Rains Stopped
As near as I can understand what happened, the Smiths arrived by plane and left by box. The box was on a plane, but the Smiths, newly dead, didn't…
Flying Ant Day
In the first year of high school, Michael Jacobs almost killed a kid. It happened on a class trip to a local farm. He held Derek Robinson’s face in a…
Western and McLean
She sits atop a stoop with four descending stairs built for a home that does not belong to her; quite possibly, this is her sanctuary, her patch of…
A September’s Flight Into Being, Part 1
On the TV that sat above the refrigerator in the lounge, the footage was of Building 1 of the World Trade Center belching smoke like a snuffed-out…
Back in the Saddle Again
The man knocked on the door of the cabin in a saddle, the slight depression in the trail between the lower part of Hawley Hill and the upper part. An…
Student Mentor/Executioner
Blanks was a town on a dry river. That’s where I lived until transferred to Noise. Once a year, at New Beginnings Day, I go back. My body models were…
