Lucy waited patiently for the young bus boy to clear the table she wanted in front of the plate glass window, and then slipped into the booth, the better to survey the highway and the hilly landscape that stretched out beyond it. And here came the same waitress with the friendly face who greeted her … Continue reading Morning Miniature 4.9.19
Author: Deb German
Parenting Story, Part the Second: When A Thousand Miles Separate You From Your Sick Kid
Turns out, the universe was listening last week when I suggested it’s impossible always to protect your child. Especially when he is 26 and presumably the captain of his own ship—and he lives in Tennessee and you live way up in Vermont. Five o’clock a.m. on Wednesday came the messages, one after another, lighting up … Continue reading Parenting Story, Part the Second: When A Thousand Miles Separate You From Your Sick Kid
Morning Miniature 4.7.19
Bran patted the cushioned seat in front of her elegant vanity and Lucy hopped onto it and handed her the brush. She gazed at Bran’s made up face behind her as reflected in the mirror, admiring her bright red lipstick, dramatic eyeliner, and the creamy foundation that now settled into her wrinkles. Despite her advancing … Continue reading Morning Miniature 4.7.19
Morning Miniature 4.4.19
Claudia could see clouds coming in from the west and felt the wind pick up, carrying aloft the rusty red clay particulate from the very earth under her feet; she could taste it, even, feel it in her teeth. The clay left orange stains in everything; she thought about that now as she unclipped clothing … Continue reading Morning Miniature 4.4.19
Morning Miniature 4.2.19
The onion’s thick outer layer resisted the sharp tip of her French knife but finally yielded all at once as she cleaved the fragrant yellow sphere in half with a satisfying thwap! She worked quickly now, already feeling the burn coming in her eyes and nostrils. Placing the flat side of one section against the … Continue reading Morning Miniature 4.2.19
Parenting Story: Difficult Children, Interesting People
I was chatting with a colleague last week about raising a boy with attention deficit disorder, and all the challenges that come in that package, and how it looks when the boy becomes an adult man and starts making his own decisions about important things in his life. Or at least how it looks in … Continue reading Parenting Story: Difficult Children, Interesting People
Morning Miniature 3.30.19
Light snow fell through the tall conifers all around him; a single flake caught on his eyelashes, and here came others, settling on his nose and cheeks. When he’d first struck out the sun was still high in the sky, with only a few gathering clouds. Now he’d been drifting in and out of consciousness, … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.30.19
Morning Miniature 3.28.19
Lucy didn’t drive her ailing little car up the steep driveway so much as encourage it up; the mossy asphalt was riddled with potholes and threatened to throw the wheels out of alignment and shake her teeth right out of her head. But when she finally reached the summit, there was Bran’s plucky little cottage, … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.28.19
Morning Miniature 3.26.19
This little watering hole a few miles outside of town wasn’t much of anything, but Roy liked that it looked just sinister enough to discourage anybody besides the locals from pulling off the highway: it was their own version of a gentleman’s club. For Roy, it was also his winding down place, where he routinely … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.26.19
Piano Story: Taking Care of (Unfinished) Business
When I disemboweled Knoxville Ballet School, liquidated it in the summer of 2012 just before my divorce was final, I was flush with pianos. Shortly before his death, my Uncle Stan had implored me to take the piano from my grandparents’ house in Chattanooga, the one he’d grown up playing before he launched himself into … Continue reading Piano Story: Taking Care of (Unfinished) Business
Sycamore Stories 