This would have been a perfect January morning, in any other January but this one, with the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window and falling on her hands at work under the tap. Every day they looked more and more like her grandmother’s hands, she mused—when had that change started to come? So much change. … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.25.19

The civil defense sirens had not sounded, not yet, but the power had been out already for several hours. She’d lit the votive candle in the little holder on the nightstand just as soon as the lights flickered; in the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of an exploding transformer—that’s how her father explained it. … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.25.19

One could survey the serpentine bend in the river from way up there, and try to guess how its fluvial contours might have changed through millennia, like a curvy seductress rolling over in her smooth satin sheets. People in grand houses perched high on the bluff could sip coffee and nibble on toast with the … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.23.19

“Oh Bran, please take me with you,” she implored. She was sitting backward on the little forlorn wood chair with the round seat, her favorite one, because it fit her just right. Leaning against its caned back with her arms wrapped around it, she was just within reach of Bran’s gauzy caftan, which she now … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.22.19

You listened to Neil Diamond crooning hot August night, and the leaves hanging down, and the grass on the ground smelling sweet, and wondered, did he know about hot August nights in Memphis? Did Neil Diamond know about the heat that still radiated up from the ground long after sunset, in the darkness, with dew … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.21.19

“I cain’t trust you to do a damn thing, Jimbo,” he said, hands shoved in his pockets, one shoulder leaning against the post. Jimbo examined the ash column on the cigarette Hank held between his dry lips as he spoke. It had grown so long, Jimbo could scarcely believe it had not fallen off. “I … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.20.19

All the world stretched out before you, alluring and intoxicating. The possibilities seemed infinite, really. What were those ancient, dusty tomes you once fingered, pulled gingerly from the shelves, whose pages drew you in for long hours? And what was that truth you learned, or maybe you heard it somewhere—was it a line in a … Continue reading Morning Miniature 2.18.19