She thinned her breakfast milk with water. She tried to pretend it was a smart, calorie-cutting, strategy, and not because the community food pantry was closed until Tuesday. She had already reserved two tablespoons of milk for her tea, a stout Yorkshire blend that she really loved. She used to have two or three cups […]
“You can’t sit there.” He ignored the woman for a moment longer to watch a pollen-covered bee lumber out of a hibiscus flower. “I was just admiring the garden, and truthfully my feet were tired.” The woman took in his ratty jeans and boots sporting a duct tape patch before sighing. She
A man found a beautiful little viper in a field. Now, he was no fool, and he knew vipers bite, but this one was special. It was shiny and tan, with huge chocolate eyes, and it could talk, and cry. “I’m not bad, it’s just that no one has ever loved me enough.”
It was the second, quieter, phone call that ripped her heart out. Sure the first call, with her youngest son screaming hysterically about how she didn’t understand anything and was so inconsiderate, made her cry and made her heart ache. But the second call, where her eldest told her, in a condescending tone he’d learned
The power went out just after lunch. Jason and Lisa emerged from their respective home offices to the sound of howling winds and creaking tree branches. “Well, at least we had our morning coffee.” Jason was scrubbing his hands through his hair and looking around the house. He did a quick mental inventory of how
There was a hole the size of a baseball in my bathrobe, but thankfully nothing important was sticking out. The neighbors couldn’t see my private bits or the bruises. The kids rushed out to the school bus. They’d had nothing but dry cereal all weekend, and knew they’d be getting lunch at school. I stumbled
