If I sink down low enough in the bath and close my eyes, it’s a room of my own. My mother used to bathe every night and I wonder if it was because, with the exception of Bridge Night, my dad was home all the time. My feet are often sore these days from pacing […]
Let’s Meet In A Dream
My daughter offered an explanation. “Maybe because our days are so alike right now, our imaginations are on overdrive.” We are sheltering-in-place during a pandemic. Days run into one another, separated only by disco ball rope swings and cafés filled with handsome flight attendants and chocolate chip wallpaper. Baz Lehrman is hopping from bed to […]
Here We Are
Deep in a plastic bin marked “B’s Crafts,” under scraps of linen and cotton, nestled against a felt needle book, is a small jar of buttons I purchased at a flea market in Perth many years ago. “They’re all from baby clothes,” the woman with the wrinkled face and purple scarf had said. She was […]
Mother-In-Place
I still shop at my local grocery store, even though there are more rotisserie chickens than avocados, and small stickers on every mediocre apple. Ever since my store was purchased by a larger chain, it has felt more Disney than Indie, but I’ve known the butcher for twenty years, and one of the baggers for […]
Conflict Resolution
The worst thing Vanessa ever did was steal a man’s laptop. And jacket. She often went to the café with the stained-glass windows in the late afternoon, after her shift at the halfway house. Today she got an Earl Grey tea and splurged on a raspberry scone. The man was already sitting at the next […]