Ghost Parachute

Back when I had to reach high for her hand, everyone thought my mother was a cop. I don’t know if it was her clinical gaze or that she found the false friendliness of California obscene, but she retained an authority from her days as head nurse that made people tremble like they’d left socks […]

I know she fucked the tree. A weeping willow, our yard. Flushed, throes of passion, a guttural moan on its invisible lips. My sister passes by the window, wiggles her fingers, blows it a brazen kiss. I scowl. I imagine the bills I’ll get from having to call an arborist to deal with the upturned […]

She kisses me like she has a death wish.  As if happy endings are only meant for suckers. The room flips upside down with a titanic thud.  The ceiling might be caving in, or on fire. Still, she’s not through kissing me. She signs “More” into my palm. On my neck, she signs, “Don’t you […]

The first babysitter was Mrs. Cook, the lady who lived across the street from our house. I taught her chihuahua Chico to say his own name while she watched me when my parents were at work. I was two years old. The dog became an expert at saying his own name. I was so very […]

We left her silver-chain pendant at the airport. It was always better for us not to carry around physical reminders of our dead relatives. We had once read this piece of advice in a women’s magazine as we waited for a routine procedure. The dentist was removing our old mercury fillings; he had told us […]

I was woken by men on the roof. Men! On the roof! On my roof.  I lay in bed at first, listening. It sounded like hammers and drills and yes, definitely someone on the roof. So I snuck out of bed and over to the window. I wasn’t afraid because it was just so audacious. […]