When his thin face hurled over the hood of her startled car, her body tightened. In that moment, the victims were joined as one: two disparate souls leaving abandoned families and friends, desperate to understand why. The car door opened, a stranger, etched as witness to her demise, yanked her shoulder. “You alright?” “Is he … Continue reading
Category Archives: Cul De Sac
A Nasty Shock
Instead of being welcomed with tears of joy and a bottle of champagne when she returned to her husband and mother, Carole got a nasty shock. When she had left Canada, six months earlier, her mother and husband had reluctantly accepted her decision to do so. She wasn’t surprised. It was always easy to get … Continue reading
The Dream
According to my father, my grandmother was an alarmist. My mother, in turn, dismisses my father as a wishful thinker—a dreamer—as “it couldn’t happen here.” Until recently, I whistled along with my father, but no longer. Since my colleagues and I were ushered out of our meeting, deprived of our phones and belts and housed … Continue reading
Robert’s Rules
In the fresh morning light as she doodled on the hotel notepad, drawing and re-drawing the Chairman’s small, ferret like teeth, Kate still felt change was possible. If she could keep her cool and follow her carefully calculated strategy, her colleagues would rally and insist the problems be addressed. As the day progressed, her optimism … Continue reading
Speculation
“What happened today?” Carol chirped, dreading the response. “More tests,” her waif mother confessed, a bleak smile fluttering along her blistered lips, “I don’t know what’s left to test.” Carol knew they’d think of something; their imagination, if not their skill, was infinite. “Side effects?” the younger woman asked reluctantly. “Nausea.” Carol focused her eyes … Continue reading
No Free Agent
The ferocious beast leaps, smashing Adam to the ground. The stiletto claws pierce his flesh. He agonizes to resist, clutching at the rhythm of his erratic breath to withstand the pain. Like his namesake, Adam Keister is cursed with knowledge. He suffers the future as well as the past. And it is the future he … Continue reading
The Period of Soon
He arrived too early. Much too early. He was always a bit overanxious. The worried type. He was alone, of course. Standing alone on one particular spot. He waited halfheartedly. He knew it was too early to begin seriously waiting. He had been afraid that contrary to all schedules and recorded data it might by … Continue reading