The Barber Sees Too Much
He went to school to be a barber, but he discovered that he only liked razors and the way they shaved clean lines with no wriggle room. His second customer was distraught both in and out of the mirror, but he stood firm, explaining that the lines were a map of her heart. He went […]
What’s Your Superpower?
The secret club was really Lynn’s idea. We would all have secret names that we used only when we were alone together, we would practice our superpowers, and we would write spells—both love spells and curses—and try them out on boys we knew. We all lived in the North Fields subdivision, and three of us […]
Shopping for the Sometimes Submerged
You resurface. Your hair feels like a trawler net. Caught within it are shells, splinters of shipwrecks and shards of glass from broken messages in a bottle. At least this is the way it feels to you, when you finally dinglehopper your fingers through it. The store lights seem too bright. They still seem to […]
EXPIRATION DATE
I remember you, she says, looking right through me. The deserted sky flares into tourmaline blue, ballet slipper pink, and flushed merlot, covering the valley like paint. It is the long cold season and the winds swirl, throwing her voice so that it seems to come from somewhere else. I have imagined this moment, ruminated […]
Dad’s Manila Envelope
My dad lifted himself into the parked wheelchair. “The day I can’t do this anymore you’ll be pushing me out on a gurney straight into the stove.” “Oh come on, Dad, you had a great checkup this year.” “Thank you, Margaret, you look lovely in that saucy sweater. Cashmere?” I’m not Margaret, but lately he […]
The outcome
“That girl’s been sitting out there on the wall all morning,” my mother says. “What does she want?” “Nothing,” I say. Another one. It’s a blessing Mum’s so forgetful these days. I could go and tell the girl she’s trespassing. But like the person who stole the donor profiles from the clinic and put them […]
Frozen Spear
It’s so sharp it could kill you. Every year it snows, and the icicles hang down from the roof. They are beautiful, these icy teeth. Some are small, stubby and murky. The water creating them dirty and brackish. Some shine, glinting like crystal. Almost as if you were looking through warped glass. Many are thin […]
Come! Meet My Family
My family is different, wonderful really, but different. They don’t ever argue or correct each other. They never say a harsh word to one another or reprimand another’s child they just stop speaking to each other for very long periods of time. These quiet times are almost never over real injustices, only perceived ones. It […]