Tipping Point
“It’s not a question of love, Peter, it’s a question of practicality.” Over their usual weekend coffee, Leslie finally found herself able to say out loud to Peter what she had been deliberating internally for so long: their relationship wasn’t working in its current state and some kind of revision, adjustment, or violent shakeup was…
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Something Behind
Jules sensed the tap before she heard it. Tap – a short and uncertain sound behind. I won’t look, she thought. It’s nothing. Tap tap – unmistakable this time. I won’t hurry. There was no reason to fear anything here on ground made so familiar by her feet night after night, year after year on…
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Liftoff – Redux
It’s Six Sentence Story time again and I am late to the party, as always. This week proved difficult for me. I finally decided to take something I did previously for Six Sentence Stories, and see if I could do a different version. This week’s post is the result. You can look at the previous…
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Clarice’s Apron
Clarice wiped her hands on her apron for the fortieth time that day. After many hours of doing, she was ready to sit, to read perhaps, or to reflect. “This is not my life,” she might once have said. She never imagined this version of Clarice. Never allowed herself to consider it. But life changes,…
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The Coat
Frank hurried along the street with arms crossed and back to the wind doing his best to ward off the cold. The calendar said spring, but it was still a cold hell most nights for those who made their beds on the streets. The wind picked up the corner of a coat sleeve on the…
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Leaving
Carla didn’t know what drove her decision. She only knew she needed to go. She flew through the house, stuffing items into her duffel. From the bedroom, her favorite sweatshirt. His, really. Too bad. From the dining room she grabbed her current reading pile and a half-drunk Diet Coke. She stamped down the three steps…
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The Golf Game
Mick was surrounded by guffaws and knee slaps as soon as he finished his swing and his club made contact with the ball. Swoosh…thwack. “That’s your fifth slice in a row, man! Maybe you want a cold beer to go along with it?” Swoosh…thwack. Mick grabbed his club, picked up his bag, and walked off…
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The Hot Rod
Jed wasn’t even close to cool, despite his own internal certainty to the contrary. Through all of his junior high and early high school years, Jed was alternately invisible or punchably solid, depending on the gender of those surrounding him in the locker-lined corridor.* It took him a long while to figure out that the…
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Sugar Report: Code Red
Kiddo was unusually wound up when Mom picked her up at school. “How was school today?” “Great!” she said. Kiddo, backpack, lunchbox, and Valentine’s box all tumbled into the car. “The Valentine party was SOOOO much fun!” “Hmm…” said Mom. “What did you eat today?” “I only had my lunch that you packed. It was…
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Greenhouse Effect
Jamie had no patience for gardening – that was a chore reserved for eccentric old Southern women in big hats. And she really did not see how an internship at this obscure local greenhouse would benefit someone about to finish her dual doctorate in ecology and environmental studies. Plants seem innocuous enough, Jamie thought as…
