Nothing can equal the mellow and melodious jolt of accomplishment which springs forth from five minutes of sitting under the sun of an early spring afternoon and smoking a cigar which one has grown from seed.
As we learned from the movie, the concept is simple: Do something nice for someone, and have them do something nice for someone else.
Right after we swapped gifts, she asked ever so quietly what date it was and my father replied it was Christmas. I would've liked to tell her that it was her birthday, that we were celebrating her.
At five to four, Husband says, “Come outside. I fixed your snowshoes. I want you to try them.” I reply, “But I can’t, you know I have this other commitment.”
We only had two Barbies, the cheap kind with the hollow legs sold at gas stations. We sat in the swift shallows of the low-water bridge, letting the dolls argue.
The hand holding mine tugged me forward and, looking up, a spray of sympathy, she does it for sympathy, then Chanel No. 5, bright lights, and the scraping of hangers over metal rack-bones.
“Why don’t we continue this chat in person? It’s a nice night. We could kiss a little.”
I raised my arms high overhead, clutched the cool metal one hand over the other, stretched myself up. My legs wrapped around the pole like a pretzel.
A glass jar of sauerkraut leaps to my senses. Thoughts of pungent, vinegary goodness come to mind, and saliva collects under my tongue.
She’s late. In the too-bright room, Jim the mediator takes her coat and gently folds it on a separate chair.
We visited my father in Tennessee. He started the moment we arrived talking about the Waffle House.
The empty space left behind was a sieve. He filled it with beer, girls, burritos, blame. Mostly beer.
Skiing is inherently dangerous. Injuries happen all the time. I second-guessed this decision. What kind of mother . . .
I waited in the car while he shed his long leather coat and left it on the hood. Suddenly, a hand snatched it! An engine screeched! The coat gone!
When his novel “Catch-22” was all the rage, Joseph Heller visited my college. I was obsessed, too awed to speak up.
Thwack, he throws hard — way harder than I ever did. His fastball audibly sizzles as it comes in.
I liked being in a classroom. I felt solid in ways I did not in the hallways and beyond. Except his classroom …
I lick the knife and drift back. Guava trees flutter in the tropical breeze.
Today I am grown and driving, the road is paved. I am going to the church of my childhood to face my fears.
On a humid August night, walking down a crowded street off the boardwalk, I spot him. Dark shoulder-length hair. Scraggly beard.