Great Aunt Mavis and the Trees
Mavis arrives after a decade’s absence, wild grey hair and weathered skin, rust-speckled motorbike burping blue smoke. She hugs us, then lifts her hands in high-priestess pose, breathing, “It’s so good to be back! Such a spiritual place!” Apparently it’s our turn to keep an eye on Mavis, who’s getting more eccentric with age. My […]
Aquarium
I stood behind the glass and watched someone sleeping under a big oak tree on the left. I moved closer and watched a couple fiercely arguing and air-gesturing in the far corner. I took another step and stuck my nose on the glass and watched an old man clutching his chest and collapsing, on the […]
In the Net
Fish and Chip Shops don’t scare me. Well, maybe a little, when all those open-mouthed marine creatures, splayed out on beds of ice, stare up at me. It’s their eyes: little lifeless baubles staring into nothing. There’s always a flutter in my throat as I picture schools of snapper swishing past me, crabs scuttling the […]
Bust of Zeb
Mark was recovering and staying in a halfway house just two blocks from downtown, and each day, he put on a clean t-shirt, his jeans, and his sandals and walked downtown to work at a café in exchange for free meals and minimum wage. Each day, he walked through a newly built park next to […]
The house of women
The 200-year-old house on the London street in Chelsea had become a house of women. That was not to say there were no men in the house. The stairs often creaked with heavy footprints as someone left stealthily in the early hours. On the top floor was a young secretary who stole stationery from her […]
Cat’s Eyes
I heard the noise when my bedroom window splattered glass over me and my bed. I never heard a gunshot before, so I peeked out the window trying to see what was going on. Mom opened my door, yelled at me for being stupid, for being a target standing in front of the window. “Why […]
Baby Yoda: A Mild Complaint
I do not care for this little lurker, this tiny green Nosferatu with ear spears and black eyes of pure death, for whom I’d welcome seeing less of, meaning never again. Arguably, this may coincide with similar complaints against the Kardashians, the rise of kale, and laundry detergent pods (for which we now know complaints […]
The earth is full of bones
The new school was meant to be a fresh start, but the pattern quickly reverted. Just ignore them, her foster mother said. They’ll soon get bored. So every afternoon she headed home across the bridge, eyes down, ignoring the seven boys. But they refused to be ignored. And there was no sign of boredom when they […]