Ghost Parachute

On the plane home to Philadelphia the Jeffrey Dahmer look-alike next to me asks if he can take my picture. I stare at him with my mouth open until he becomes uncomfortable enough to swap seats with a middle-aged woman with streaks of silver in her red hair. She smiles politely as she settles into […]

I remember the peculiar look on your face whenever we talked about me not having children. Peculiar, and familiar. Other men had worn that expression before you, with me. Your features formed a cocktail of dissatisfaction, confusion, and longing. You had a nine-year-old daughter whose picture I had seen on your phone: her straw-blonde hair […]

A thought. Never again will this be ever. The day was too long, the sun blessing the lawn at his feet with warmth. A cloudless sky: the eighth consecutive day of little or no clouds passing over the town. The lawn gently slopes to the ivory sidewalk and the blacktop. Staring at it, I envisioned […]

In sixth grade we had this book, “Cross your Fingers and Spit in Your Hat,” with tests to tell if someone was a witch and we used it to convince Ellie that I was. A witch. Still am!  Skoal! Ellie and April would plot the test, then April would call me and we’d make sure […]

Silvia starts college in the Fall of 2010, the first time in her life she’s ever been alone. She thinks she’ll feel fulfilled, happy. And at first, she is; Silvia revels in the solitude, trying to reclaim lost moments of pondering. A childhood of strict immigrant parents with an open door rule never afforded her […]

My name is Suzanne. I could be a plumber, a banker, or a fireman. The detail provides demographic and social context and makes you comfortable. There is no comfort here, only the past, behind us until it fractures the present. I met him first at the office, in the queue for a latte, or as […]