“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
Category Archives: Relationships
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 Spider
When she hears her mother calling from the hall below, Kathryn scurried behind the wing-back chair in the library. Her heartbeat quickened as footsteps mounted the stairs, the door creaked open. “Kathryn?” Silence. “She’s not here.” The door shut. “That child.” After a few moments, her fear overcome by curiosity, the child crept out to … Continue reading
Two Against One
Seeing the two of them standing there stiff as statues set my blood boiling. They were hunkered together—my four-year-old daughter and 75-year-old stepmother—gazing up and down the street as if awaiting heavenly guidance. Why didn’t they move? When I offered to accompany them, I did so without implying they couldn’t find their own way to … Continue reading
Chalk and Cheese
Hidden under her ratty brown blanket, the blinds closed, the doors double locked, no TV, no radio, Thimble’s last link was her phone and off it went. It had to be her twin sister Station. Who else was there? She had disposed of all the nuisance calls and long since dissuaded friends from contacting her. … Continue reading
Wolf Country
Annoyed by his companion’s smug smile, Arnold glanced furtively out the car window at the hostile white landscape. Everything pointed to a disastrous weekend. When he had decided to stage their last outing at the cottage, he’d failed to consider winter’s potential tyranny. In the city—his arena—the elements were kept under control. In his haste … Continue reading
Going for Gold
Until the radio announcer reported her brother’s death, Frances had been resigned to a life of ignobility. Suddenly she had a chance to go for gold. With the public memorial only a week away (Alfred had acted quickly), it was crucial she develop a strategy to link her poetry to her brother’s art. She also … Continue reading
Without the China
The Hostess has gone upstairs. No one is surprised. No one seems disturbed except the new friend wedged uncomfortably in the corner. Two of the men quarrel amiably about the party leader. He is too radical; he has no principles. They enjoy the joust: friends in their clothes, warm together. “Remember the time Amy and … Continue reading
Scarlet Ribbons
The heavy smell of hot, wet clothing; winter dressed people in a crowded bus. Lucky she’d got a seat. That would have been too much. Standing for an hour after trudging around all day. Her feet were tired. She ached right up to her thighs. Never did have strong legs. Born on a farm, born … Continue reading