The Wrong Crowd
Sex aside, the rush of freedom was exhilarating. Everything was a dare. Allie landed a job as a receptionist. Pete played open mics all over town. High on weed and booze, they went to concerts on the pier, museums, the zoo. Anything for free. A year later her body turned on itself.
In Care
"In Care” is an unflinching portrait of the pain and tenderness families offer one another. The narrator’s voice is sharply drawn and deeply human, and the story builds to an ending that quietly reveals how love—especially within families—can both wound and endure."
Executive Assistant
The minutes were due on Charles’s desk by Monday, the rent due on Friday. She had $10.35 in her purse, $5,000 in her savings account. And if Jimmy didn’t come through with the money for Jade’s braces, she would have to call her attorney. $175/hr., $3.50 a minute for every phone call. She owed him two grand. There was no one she didn’t owe right down to Jade for back allowance. Then she was going to have to pay for the goddam divorce.
Love is an Oval
She’s standing in the crib holding the top bar, chattering away. Outside her door, you listen. It’s the inflection of the nonsense sounds that have you laughing to yourself so hard you could bust wide open.
Gorilla Mother
"Tomorrow she will be dead.
Then they will lay her on a cold metal table.
Charles will shave her and measure and mark her, cut through her belly to make notes on her worthless insides."
Butterfly House
Her nail tore on the car door handle but didn’t snap. Buckle your seatbelt, she said to herself. Put on some lipstick. Pale, not red. Your 16 year-old son and his friend have just been arrested for armed robbery. Find a peppermint in the glove compartment. Don’t sit there like a zombie. Drive to Manhattan.
Awesome Nuts & Chews
“Trish had come back from New York to Wellsboro, devastated by her failed marriage, and there was Kevin, smiling in a doorway. He called her his ex-actress, Trish the Dish.”
Lucky People
The Midtown Tunnel is jammed. Finally, they emerge into a lavish orange and blue sky. Feeling glamorous, Maggie cracks open the car window and lights up a Marlboro. She loves weddings, relies on them as proof that certain lucky people find each other. So much happiness! Good food, dancing, the chance to show off her still-voluptuous figure. She and Mark have their moves on the dance floor, ‘a feather in my arms’ he always tells her; nothing tricky but they are smooth and graceful together, like fine-fitting gloves.
Mara Mermaid
In the early morning before fully waking, Mara imagined Miguel, who was one of her mother’s housemates, forcing her to sit on the kitchen stool in her skirt but without any underwear.
Dream Child
“Joseph was removed from his home during a police raid. Crack cocaine and stash of guns and ammunition. Father is unknown. Mother has served time for prostitution. Joseph was found in the backyard hiding in a car.”
Cleaning House
I eyed myself in the streaky mirror in the bathroom. A short, pudgy woman in a black tank and cargo shorts with star tattoos trailing around my left ear down my neck along the top of my shoulder, and starting just below my right ear, in letters the size of pinkie fingernails, the Vonnegut quote: Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, which makes me smile every time I look at it.
Fear of Heights
This is the story of my sister, Geneva, and her struggles with love. All the fantasies and the confusion. The highs and the lows.
Mountain Climber
The girls totter across the road under the weight of their backpacks, shrinking into a forest of dew-drenched trees. From behind, all that is visible are their blue-jeaned legs. Katerina thinks of that first day, the two of them alone in the examining room waiting for the doctor with Sascha saying, “I’m not sick. I’m frustrated and cranky. I want to leave my head. I’m well. Tell them not to prick me with such a metallic, sharp and pointed object. It bothers my soul.”
Family Safety Plan
Carol had eyed the children from her window splashing in a green kidney shaped kiddie pool. Maybe this was a sign. Maybe this was her chance to glean all she could from interacting with something other than TV game shows. Opportunity knocking at her door. Maybe nothing would change her but years of therapy had taught Carol that intimacy grows out of actually being with people. And as far as she knew, children were technically people.
Shopping
When she told him, Dylan had said screw that before she’d even finished explaining. He threatened to run away. No way in hell was he going to go to White Plains to stay with his father. His bedroom door slapped closed. Discussion over. Screw that. She didn’t have the strength in her left to tell him it might be permanent, not just then.