She sits pressing down her crinoline skirt with her sweaty palms and leans back on the slatted church chair. She waits. There is no air in this fellowship hall, so she swings her legs back and forth and looks down at her new black shoes. The boy next to her turns roughly and nudges her. […]
1932
Penmanship Hell! a barely legible scrawl.
My Stars Are On a Different Orbit
Chapter 3 “Meredith?” Dad was leaning on my bedroom door, his eyes careful and soft. “Are you okay?” My thoughts vanished in a cloudy poof, and I was back to the present. “Yes, Dad,” I said, but I looked down quickly, thinking he wouldn’t see my face. I never could hide much from him, and […]
My Stars Are On a Different Orbit
“I knew as soon as I said it I was being an ass,” so I apologized and hugged her.
1932, Part 1
The day of my mother’s birth
Goodbye to All That…
Farewell, Students. For the past three years, in my “retirement phase,” I have been teaching Chinese children online. This was never something I had planned to do, as I had reservations (and maybe pre-conceived notions) about teaching children from this Communist country. Even though I had taught hundreds of students from Asia, finding them engaging […]
Aspect of a Stranger
At the far edges of Mary’s consciousness, something moved, but then she blinked it away and wondered how long she’d have to wait for Rhonda to come for her.
Illusion
It was Doug. From high school. We had dated for a while.
My Stars Are On A Different Orbit
As i stood on the porch, sweaty and miserable, I let the tears roll down my face as they wished. And something dark and small felt like it was beginning to grow deep inside me.
We are all just prisoners here…
“We are all just prisoners here of our own device.” This is a line from the Eagles’ song, “Hotel California.” I liked the song when I heard it way back when, but as I got older, I wanted to understand what the songwriter meant by some of the lyrics. I heard people condemning the song […]
I'm Not Seeing Pretty Today. 