Guilt is just another unpleasant sensation that interrupts the calm emotional state that I seek. In moments when my mind is blank, my To Do's are quiet, my contentment is medium to high, guilt can kick in. I say "can"…

The sun was down, but her own heat had only risen higher, as a cooler night promised an adventure in a place she knew she should not go. Her Momma had told her so. A girl her age was not…

The winter light, bending through the manzanita branches, came into the room low and golden. Glancing off the flowered writing pad, suffusing the images imprinted on its side in amber, tipping the squared- match box in warmth. A moment to…

villain, likes to get them in her clutches: how to show this? Madame Mandeville paced in her office. The last student had left, and now she was here. Something rang out in her mind, about how it all was.. a…

When my toes hit the water, I froze. But with spectators seated on the docks to both my left and my right, there was no turning back. But I was resolved to swim anyway, this being New Year's Day. I'd…

Lenore didn’t consider herself a beauty. At least not all the time. She found fault constantly, although she was advised not to mention her fault-finding—it was too petty and made people want to hit her. She couldn’t say, for instance,…

There is something in the smell of an old wood floored dance studio that can never be replaced. For me it is the petite madeleine of my childhood. It brings back everything, the count, the light, the resin, the barre,…

Mel stood in the darkest part of the alley, purposefully just out of range of the warm light that emanated from of the Victorian manor house in great rectangular beams and illuminated the soggy back garden. The damp of the…

Eating bagels in the morning meeting because they're provided for free. Applauding when the plane lands because everyone else is doing it. Answering "fine" when asked how they're doing because that's the scripted answer. This place, this Earthly place, is…

The sisters didn’t have much in common. One , Anna, had lost her children, her husband, and so there’s was nothing left of her life but her past. The other, Betty, the younger, although by only three years, had three…

The muscles and skin of my face relax. My senses sharpen. If darkness has a texture , I am sitting in velvet. If velvet has a sound, it is total soft silence. The dull soothing thud of no discernible sound.…

This old beast of a man, 2024, walks hunched over under his filthy ragged cloak like every mean ogre in every tall tale. Over his shoulder he carries a heavy bag in a dank greasy muslin sack. He feels, more…