(fiction continues) Sandy McCloud happened to be the youngest and newest professor in the department. Amelia knew that her assignment to this woman hadn't been a mistake. Given the school's trust in Amelia's prospects, they weren't going to waste the…

Happiness isn't all we asked for and it is not the way of our lives. Happiness is assumed. How could we not be happy? All that we could want, all is provided. One lives or dies and the life, it…

I once worked with a lovely woman, I’ll call her Mindy. Mindy had a kind of pale, delicate beauty, curly once blond hair, pretty blue eyes, kind smile. She taught English in the room next to me, the ‘fishbowl’ room…

By the time I reached fifth grade, my parents had moved so many times, I decided never again to make a friend. Once I heard my aunt tell my father (who was her brother), "It's not good for you to…

When we say someone has “come out of the closet”, we are broadcasting that a human has freed themselves from the dark secrets, the hidden fears, that have made life small, and we celebrate the courage it takes to turn…

(not fiction...) The idea that nothing confines me is absurd. That seems like an idea from a movie in which a young woman throws off the bounds of her current life, buys a convertible, and hits route 66. Makes for…

Remember all those sci-fi disaster films where after the big explosion/alien invasion/intergalactic battle/plague/flood/fire/freezing is over the humans come out from where they’ve been hiding underground or in caves or in trees or in submarines, their eyes squint and blink at…

Stunned into silence by one word written on the board, HYPERBOLE. Students looked at each other, then at Mister Geronimo, their American Lit teacher. "Class, can someone tell us the meaning of this word?" "Heck! I don't even know how…

I’ve reached the age where certain truths become evident, some welcome, some not, but finally, since they do ring with the weight of "truth", I believe that all these "arrivals' are finally welcome.. comforting, the way arrival at home is…

(continues) Amelia can't bear sitting any longer in the cafe. No plan. She can't just sit here without a plan. What did she think would happen when she left home to come stalk this guy. Stupid. She should have ordered…

(continues) If any friend had been around to bust her on what she was up to, she'd have folded. But she was in new territory and feeling brave. She took her double espresso, tiny cup on a tiny saucer to…

My husband and I were wondering today why babies and old women seem to fit together so naturally. Do we all remember each other from a previous life time, some elsewhere where we were happy together? Is that surprise and…