“I gotta go, ‘cuz Mellow’s getting anxious.” Mellow, a charcoal Bichon Frise, pulls at the end of his leash and attempts to reach Bob and me with his forepaws as we walk up a strip of crumbled sidewalk in the city of Schenectady’s Stockade district. His owner, talking to another fellow on a stoop, […]
The Fifteens
“Forget acting. I’m going to be an eco-saboteur.” She turns fifteen this month. These are the first words out of her mouth when Grammie brings her back to the cafe from wilderness survival summer camp. I think I’m holding my own at the espresso bar in her absense, but she gives me a light hip […]
What would Henry David say?
“For my greatest skill has been to want but little.” When I read this line in Walden, I repeated it out loud. I wrote it down. I emblazoned it across my brain, forged it into my heart, considered tattooing it across my chest. I was a mother of two by then, but they were […]
Smoothies & Hormones
“Kids! We gotta be in the car in 15 minutes! Let’s MOVE!” “But Mom!” Ula lobs her words from her pillow, over the stair railing and down into the kitchen where they land, smoking, at my feet. “You have to make our smoothies!” Imperitives don’t sit well with me today. This is an invitation to […]
Lucky Dog
It’s nearly 11 o’clock at night. Bob and I pay for our food, push aside our plates and make our way to the exit of Gene’s, a brightly lit restaurant on the outskirts of Moncton, New Brunswick. We are the only customers there at present. A man watches us intently from behind the counter. I […]
Whiskey for Breakfast
It’s noon on Friday, and I’m pounding on the back door of the Green Wolf Tap Room. Bob and the kids are next door at the library with a homeschool group, and I’m demanding that Justin, the owner, open up early and serve me whiskey for breakfast. I haven’t eaten since lunch the day […]
Selling it.
Become a Patron “You don’t show enough cleavage,” I was told by some cynical veteran writers one night after a bottle of wine. “You’ll never make it as a popular writer.” “You don’t do lunch,” I was told by a New York publishing insider. “You’ll never make it.” Long before I faced the brutal realities […]
August
I remember when August was defined by crickets pulsing through the day and night; by goldenrods stretching tall to meet the deep blue sky; by the blackberries that lured me off the roadsides, slicing my legs and arms as payment for their plump fruit. I remember how August was the calm before the storm of […]
The Butterfly
“There was one boy who I’m pretty sure had a crush on me. Because he burbed in my face. Then, a little while later, he walked up next me, farted, and then accused me of doing it. Can someone explain to me how that expresses affection?” Saoirse is having an extraordinary summer. To thank her […]
This facility serves nuts.
“Food brings people together. It’s just amazing…” The cafe is closed, nearly empty of customers, and I’ve made my way over to table one, where two retired English teachers from my high school are lingering over their coffee and pie. They are here this afternoon, reaching out to each other, reaching out to the world […]
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