Her greatest wish was to have a best friend. Someone she liked, who made her laugh, who brought her joy. To be included. To have someone to save a cookie for. A buddy for the bus ride to the field trip. Her best friend would hand deliver a birthday party invitation instead of … [Read more...]
A New York Number
This is fiction. As I was saying, the party wasn't for her birthday at all. I had gotten the details of the invitation mixed up with the ones for a different party. Who can ever tell, now that my calendar is kept on my phone, and when I enter an event into it and someone talks … [Read more...]
What Are You Looking At?
I'm starting to lose feeling in my face. It's just as well. I have to be hammered to get through this. Apparently, you can still smoke in bars in Milwaukee, or at least in strip clubs. My eyes water from it. I rub them, coughing. When my vision clears, I see her. Sliding … [Read more...]
Dead Girl
Writing prompt from my last writers' group meeting*: Write a poem or story about opposites. You have ten minutes. I've got this dead girl who follows me around. I keep her inside me like a secret, and she doesn't like that. Sometimes she swells up like when you smack your … [Read more...]
Letters For Scarlet by Julie C. Gardner: Book Review
Back to school reading for grownups. By the time a woman is thirty, she has experienced loss, most likely. It's true for men too, I'm sure, but in Letters For Scarlet, a book about grief, friendship, grace, and courage, the losses are felt most keenly through the eyes of … [Read more...]