En route to Menlo Park, New JerseyApril 1915 Do you read by electric light? Oh, I’m sure for years, squinting at your copy of Great Expectations by the spark of a candle on your Davenport, was a familiar experience. But… Continue Reading
Lakeside Elementary is on the edge of our neighborhood, right by the Piggly Wiggly. It isn’t anywhere near a lake, thankfully. There is only one natural lake in Texas. Halfway in Texas, really, and honestly, it’s only still there because… Continue Reading
I’ve been acting for so long that sometimes I forget where the act ends and I begin. I learned early how to look like the man people wanted: the right tone, the right posture, the right kind of silence. No… Continue Reading
As I struggled to repair my son’s bicycle, I thought of my dad. Years ago, he built me an entire bike from parts, assembling each piece while drinking a beer or two in the garage. One night, I brought out… Continue Reading
There it was, in the parish newsletter, under Furniture for Sale: “20 inch cream-colour bathroom cabinet, rose-shape handles.” With any luck, a replica of the one Charlene had broken last week. She had searched online, flagged up a couple of… Continue Reading
On the day in question, I’m perusing the grapefruits at my supermarket. I make sure I pick only a grapefruit clearly stickered “Star Ruby.” Meaning it’s not a pink grapefruit. Meaning it’s not an apricot. Meaning it’s not a bran… Continue Reading
My friend Julio wears many faces. He can be elusive, and sometimes disappears for months at a time. But I always find him in the end. We first met while working at a slowly failing startup. I was drawn to… Continue Reading
Planning his next escape from Springbrook Retirement Home, George wakes early, just as the first-shift staff start their rounds, so it isn’t surprising he is the only resident to observe Fred leave, zipped into a body bag, covered with a… Continue Reading
It started with a whisper in the rear-view mirror. Not the kind you hear, exactly — more the kind that curls under your skin and waits. Dean adjusted the mirror. Empty backseat. Just trees blurring past. Just the heat. He… Continue Reading
What happens. I drive to the store. Read in a coffeeshop. Pretend to work. The drama having subsided, the sad affair, the hero dies, a little heroically, the other left alone. How to end it. Had a small success. Child… Continue Reading