A perfect loneliness When Agatha’s father died, the world stopped. She and Mutti were now alone. Her father had a big family, but they ignored Mutti and Agatha. Holidays were excruciatingly painful, especially Christmas. Agatha was young but she understood…

Jury Duty When she got there, she was directed to the elevators on the left, the ones that went to the floor Courtrooms 18, 19, 20 and 24 were on. The ninth floor. There were several people already in the…

[Fiction] His aunt entered the senior community with what his wife thought was a form of glee. She wouldn't have to cook! She could have a small studio apartment (as opposed to a vacuous three bedroom house) that someone else…

(I'm in revision now, so here is the opening of my novel.) “They killed off one of those fish.” “You sure about that, Pop,” I said, helping him into a recliner. “There were six last week. Now there’s five.” I…

Much has been written of it, this solitude that I have only come to appreciate in my older years. And such is the tale of Ingrid. And her discovery of her perfect loneliness….. more to the point her love for…

BETRAY: expose (one's country, a group, or a person) to danger by treacherously giving information to an enemy……or: disclose, divulge, reveal, and tell….. treacherously reveal (secrets or information). Sometimes, well,let me be clear….most times, we live lives of secrecy…pure and…

Everything will betray itself Sarah was glum. Hans comforted her. “How can we live in world like this?” asked Sarah flatly. “A man literally set Jews praying for peace on fire. He said they supported war. Are people mad?” “The…

More and more she found herself throwing things away. This was a real departure from the first several decades in her life. It wasn’t conscious at first. It began with the sweater drawer. She threw out, without even looking at…

The lore of the Winnemem Wintu tribal people, also known as the "Middle Water People," is that long ago a member of the tribe came over a hill and saw the Carquinez Strait, the waterway that connects several northern California…

The wind, sneaking around the corner of the skyscrapers where you work; my scarf, the deepest, most joyous red; my feet, tired and sore from all the running; my laugh lines; the whispers, overheard by cafe patrons in Paris; my…

Peony entered the market place in the middle of the city, on the level four hundred and fifty nine, between the agriculture fields below and the more secure housing for the cities first families. She only brought Tee, someone barely…

As the Talmud commanded, Bella was returned to G-d’s hands within twenty-four hours of his death. Sarah took command of all funeral preparations. One moment, Bella lay broken at the doorstep of Frau Bleich’s home. The next moment, men of…