Ghost Parachute

I saw the wolf again last night, just before dark. He sat on a mound of blown snow buttressing the old fence in the back yard. His fur, stippled with purple like the sky and the snow. I looked out my study window and there he was, looking right at me. My husband says, must […]

Later that year, he was depressed again, which this time meant watching bad TV when he’d rather be reading good books, which isn’t to say that he didn’t subscribe to the whole TV renaissance theory of the decade; it was more that he couldn’t tell a good show from a bad show until he was […]

Joe comes to the door of our house, bearing a casserole. He’s courting our mother, finding ways to see her in between their weekly meditation group meetings, where interactions are limited to deep breathing and Sanskrit chants. The houses in our Cheektowaga neighborhood are close together (too close), no yards, the trees all stumpy crab […]

The Switzerland Trail was sandy in that section. Four to six inches deep, loose and hard to ride through. She was hauling Justin, always in the top percentile for weight and height. Her husband hadn’t wanted to move the seat to his own bike. She’d said: There’s shaken baby syndrome. I don’t think we should […]

My husband owed Codpod a solid. Or at least they both agreed he did. Joe roared off right after dinner. I stood in the doorway, watching him take the corner. I’ve never met Codpod. But yesterday we received a wedding gift, delivered by a friend of Cod’s. wearing white shorts and a spangly halter top. […]

‘You lot – be good,’ says Dad on his way out. We’re four lads in the conservatory staring at clouds. We stuff Cheetos into our mouths, neck cans of Coke, and shake soda over Dad’s precious patio, his ‘oh so lovely suntrap’ with its yellow climbing roses and ornamental wall. They all get a dousing. […]