May 2022

Maybe recognizes the old, raspy-voiced woman humming. She’s the only one that pets him in the backyard. He loves how she scratches behind his ears and tells him he’s a good boy. He pushes his head through the fence. ​ “Hello, cutie,” she says. He smells that she means him no harm, that there is affection […]

Neil strolled through the forest. He hadn’t been here since 2003, when the storm knocked down his and Merida’s giant oak tree. ​ Their marriage came crashing down too, in its own tempestuous storm. She had carved into the tree: ‘Neil & Merida 4 ever’. But all that remained was an ugly stump. Yesterday, a mutual

The finely dressed girl with thick black hair places the necklace around Becca’s neck. Becca stares at her balding reflection. “Beautiful,” says the girl, no trace of sarcasm present in her smile. “My mom’s a cancer survivor.” Becca’s own cancer has metastasized; she squeezes the girl’s hand lovingly. “I’ll take the necklace,” she says. She’s

Everything you need to know about a man is in the books he reads. I scour my suitor’s library as he uses the restroom. Men without books are undeserving of another date. I demand a man with character, depth, knowledge. A man’s library is his mind, and my suitor’s is a labyrinth. I run my