***A continuation of the last story with Tom and Shelley here*** “Oh Tom, it’s not you, really.”  Shelley said. Then she heaved a sigh.  An ominous, brace-yourself-buddy-for-what-I’m-going-to-lay-down kind of sigh.  A sigh indicating a wish that this beach had a convenient swim-up bar at which to purchase some Dutch Courage. “I don’t even know how […]

Tears from him. In that hotel room, in the dark. Unmanning me. “I can’t… just can’t!” His voice pleaded, pulling the sheets up, aborting the moment. Me, Munsch’s Scream, silent, gaping.  Not breathing. Pulse frenetic. I couldn’t hear.  Something about another girl, no — a woman. Another woman.  He loved us both. She in Ohio, […]

I tend to walk with my eyes downcast. I watch the sidewalk.  For debris, cracks, dog shit. So when the snow started to fall, I didn’t notice it. As I had put down my head and started my walk I was on the north side of campus.  Now, heading south through the park toward my […]

Gritty. In her mouth, in her suit, in her mind. “When did I become such a killjoy?” He cocked an eyebrow, and said, “What do you mean, ‘when’?” “Pffft.” Shelley wiggled her toes, displacing Tom’s weatherbeaten ones in the sand.  She tried to re-embody childhood memories. warmth tickling toes, laughter dancing on the air, eyes […]

“Please,” I said, through tears.  Salty, danger-on-the-highway-inducing tears.  “Please let’s just take this exit.  We can go to the beach.” I didn’t really expect him to say yes, I just needed to fight. “You know I can’t” he said, looking out of the window transfixed as the exit for Half Moon Bay passed us by. […]

Somehow, his feet moved. Left. Right. Left. Right. As if walking were actually an involuntary reflex propelling him forward. Had he remembered the napkin?  He always wrote on napkins, why was that? Pat the coat pocket.  Pat the back pocket.  Dig in the pants pocket. No napkin. But here he was, feet now lead, sinking […]

I am thankful for time off. I was blissfully unplugged from the interwebs (except for the odd foray in when I needed to look up Ricardo Montalban and Corinthian Leather in Wikipedia, of course) over the holiday break.  But now I’m ready to catch up on my Reader and find out what you all have […]

“Three… Two… One…” Each finger disappears along with the number, until there are none. Then I “woosh!” my hand away as your teeth arrange themselves into the smile that I can see always, even with my eyes closed, like the imprint of the light after a sunset stare. “One… Two… Three… Four… Fiiiiiiiivvvvve!” This time […]

I was reading Literal Mom’s post about dessert and remembered that I’m not the only person in the house who loves dessert. I give you the Pumpkin Bread Dessert Picnic courtesy of G.

Yes. I am thankful for my liver. My liver, and BEER. Last night we and a frouple who lives a few houses down from us finally managed to get our schedules aligned and made it out to dinner together (we’ve been attempting to make this happen for about 6 months now). Luckily, grandparents were available […]