Category Archives: Fiction

That wasn’t the end of my irks. It was hardly even annoying. A better person than I (or a better mood) would have made a light joke, if anything, out of the experience. Today is Sunday. I left the house … Continue reading →

Sometimes the collection of evidence becomes impossible to ignore. Like when I think I’m doing fine and then I catch my heel on a street grating, almost fall and drop my stuff, encounter a silly obstacle or a rude driver, … Continue reading →

The first couch I remember was medium-green, upholstered in something like damask, pretty and soft. Its seat cushions needed plumping after anyone sat down. Mom would jump up and dart to the couch whenever one of us stood up from … Continue reading →

It was good that Norah and I found each other. We were alike in feeling quietly superior to everyone else. We were similar in our early shifting for ourselves. Most of the boys and many of the girls thought we … Continue reading →

So it was that when I entered kindergarten, I switched classes on the second day. I was looking for more than I found on the first day, in my assigned room. I told my mother about it and she taught … Continue reading →

My parents managed to find a stupid pediatrician. Either that or they lied to me, and the mistakes were their own decisions. But they told me the enema was doctor’s advice, and they insisted that their silence before my tonsillectomy … Continue reading →

Jane thought she was done with abnormal mouth then. She continued to brush and floss and see the dentist twice a year, but she enjoyed 20 years of strong normal-looking teeth. Then the gum disease appeared. It had to have … Continue reading →

But they’re grown up now, like the rest of us, and their weird ideas have grown up too. Young Jem is an enlightened pessimist (her term). She’s been contemplating existence all her life and she has concluded that our species … Continue reading →

We called them the weird sisters but that had nothing to do with destiny. If you google “weird” now you get origins in “wyrd” and references to the Greek fates and the Scottish witches, but they and we doubt it. … Continue reading →

Instead, I brought the meeting back to order. I commented on the lateness of the hour and I reminded everyone that we had to move along. I prevented Linda from asking what she later gave me: how disabled does someone … Continue reading →