At the sound of a tentative rat-tat-tat, Jessica peeled open her eyes. An emaciated drummer boy dressed in a scarlet uniform stood by the lawn chair opposite her. His gold epaulets were crumpled over his thin shoulders. His small pinched face peered from under a crimson cap. “I’m fading from neglect,” he said, in a … Continue reading
Category Archives: Fiction
The Boy
When the house key clicked in the lock, Diane hesitated. With Tom’s departure, she had hoped that the house would be empty of both the quick and the dead. No such luck. Instead of the reassuring sight of the cluttered hallway, the long corridor appeared distended, as if viewed through the wrong end of binoculars. … Continue reading
The Seasons
Since she left her birthplace — a land of the seasons — her existence had been untethered: floating freestyle instead of settling to the comfortable rhythm nature guaranteed. The loss was not one she discussed with her family. They would have been troubled that she was not content in their new home. Her father argued proudly they were lucky … Continue reading
Margaret the Magnificent
Margaret is nestled beside her husband, her exhausted mind whirling with images. She envisions her huge-bellied body mounted, like a golden figurehead, on an ancient galleon. She is Margaret the Magnificent, skimming across the metallic lake – hair biting her neck, sails snapping against the mast. Wallop. The heavy mast smashes her stomach hurling her … Continue reading
Winter Birds
Maria studies her family clustered around the table, hopeful not of food but of deliverance. She is stretching her arthritic limbs towards a decision—albeit not in the direction her family anticipates—but the last few inches are excruciating and perhaps the goal is unobtainable. A peacemaker and the core of a happy family all her life, … Continue reading
A Week to Dine Out On
“Surprise!”, my daughter Sally chirped, standing at my door, arms laden with flowers and nutritional offerings. I don’t appreciate surprises and when, as now, I feared the unexpected guest was coming to celebrate my social whirl, I was aghast. “Am I not to be invited in, or have I caught you with visitors?” my daughter … Continue reading
Gift Unsolicited
Whenever a muddy taped box was plopped down on our front porch, I struggled to decipher my aunt Edie’s scrawl on the custom’s form. (Under no circumstances were we allowed to open the parcel until mom got home from working as a shelf- filler at Ben’s hardware store.) I had to be content with reading … Continue reading
Her Story
Having made the announcement and asked for advice, Catherine leapt up to answer her cell phone. With apologies to Laura over her shoulder, the young woman headed out of the restaurant and hunkered down against the wall. Gasping in disbelief, her mother-in-law scrambled to find some sage reply to the surprising news. She watched the … Continue reading
Foiled Again
If she had kept to her old ways—as annoying as they were to family and friends—she could have saved the day. Instead she had looked the other way and had lost her chance to finally say, “Now who knows best.” Fortunately, just when she was about to boast of her triumph, to point out that … Continue reading
The Look-Alike
Laura hadn’t seen such eyes—watery, blue and riveting—since her great aunt died 20 years earlier. The resemblance—particularly the popping eyes—was uncanny and unnerving. Lured down the street behind the double, after five blocks, Laura was enticed into the public library. She sunk unto a chair near the ‘look-alike’ and, head down, glanced at an open … Continue reading