In frigid darkness I boarded the 2:00 AM shuttle to SeaTac airport, traveling lightly with a few outfits, my laptop and a book. I had mailed clothing and gifts and hoped they would be waiting for me at the cottage when I arrived. My mind wandered, exposing snippets of conversations from our most recent group [...]
Sometimes you find meaning as your senses absorb the world around you. Your brain clicks, tags, and files everything, pulling up distant memories and associating them with new sensations. Other times, things just float around, spots in the vitreous jelly. You notice it, chase it, but it’s always a bit ahead of you. Every once [...]
On parallel paths, they pulsed through the thickening crowd. Swirls of light and color gave rhythm to the coarse, moonless night. She marched toward a dream, glancing off elbows and shoulders, spinning in distraction, but not losing sight of her target. The purple tent in the foothills of the great machines promised forbidden wonders. The [...]
Chocolate. I tasted, then heard chocolate. “Are you sleeping? You never sleep.” The icy phone carried the buttery tones to my ear as my brain discovered the hand connected to my arm. It was James. Jolted awake, I summoned a groggy reply, “How’s your tomorrow?” He almost laughed and my skin warmed at the sound [...]
A pair of sneakers sent me spiraling into darkness. I was tying my shoes and briefly wondered if I would need boots at the cottage this time of year. I paused, tangled in ties, and collapsed on the hardwood entry floor. Each year of pain then took its turn wrenching my body and flooding my [...]
¶ Any Day
She held the pen lightly between her fingers as she waited for the struggle in front of her to cease. Lips spread wide in a patient grin as the father winked in her direction and proceeded to wrench the slippery menu from the mouth and fingers of the baby in the high chair. A young [...]
I had never been to the cottage in winter and my first thought was to wonder if the pond would be frozen. I was not ready to find meaning in his brief note. There was a part of me that rebelled against the idea of being summoned like this, without a phone call or explanation. [...]