It’s important to me to be considered a “good” house. At the entrance to my neighborhood is a small seventies-era split-level home. It’s not well kept: over-grown bushes, peeling paint and an eroded set-back—that eight-foot parking strip between the street and the lawn in rural neighborhoods like mine. There are no curbs denoting the start of … Continue reading Whoppers
Creative Writing
Field of Screams (flash non-fiction)
Tentatively, I push through the battered wooden door, past its scarred reddish hue, into the adjacent room. I crouch down to squeeze through the tiny opening. The spring-loaded hinge offers enough resistance to make me question my plan to carry on, to follow this path. As I clear the door, the room beyond is black … Continue reading Field of Screams (flash non-fiction)
Those things I haven’t done
Two and a half months ago, I started a new job. And then, the pace of my life picked up. Longer hours, more distractions, coming home exhausted, spent. Five weeks ago, my kids went back to school, and my life-pace picked up again. Mornings were shot—the primary focus became getting the kids on the bus. … Continue reading Those things I haven’t done
The Shimmering Image
I’ve taken two writing courses in my life. One class—Creative Nonfiction, I enrolled in it as I first embarked on my writing hobby—was phenomenal. Useful, educational, fun. I walked away with a two-thousand-word essay that makes me proud to this very day. The second class, taken on the heels of the first, gave me nothing. … Continue reading The Shimmering Image
The Lottery
When I get ticked-off at life, I play the lottery. When I’m frustrated by my earnings, by my job, by my writing, by my health, the lottery distracts me. The lottery gives me hope. I drop a buck. Always on the quick-pick. I have no premonitions. I’d be embarrassed to presume a hunch. I’m vaguely … Continue reading The Lottery
The Blue Trail
A longish short story that I classify as Almost Fiction. A fairly dramatic departure from my usual writing. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Shovel in hand, part-way through the job of replacing my sump-pump drainage pipe, I first caught sight of Pat. I was still digging out the decayed tar-paper piping that was … Continue reading The Blue Trail
The Other Stuff 