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 Miniatures
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
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
Morning Miniature 3.23.19
Hank hesitated a moment to wait for the automatic doors to slide open, and then stepped into the little reception area; the woman behind the desk smiled and nodded hello. The air in this place was always a tad too warm and carried the disagreeable tang of fatty cafeteria fare with unmistakable overtones of urine. … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.23.19
Morning Miniature 3.21.19
She relished the moments when the two of them laughed so hard they couldn’t speak, nay, couldn’t breathe. (This could go on for what seemed an eternity.) So deep a bond existed between them, that a mere wisp of a notion scarcely articulated got them going. Call it a tacit understanding of an idea’s hilarity—for … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.21.19
Morning Miniature 3.19.19
Those erect ears were the thing, well, maybe it was the quizzical tilt of that massive head attached to them, but no, they were inseparable: the ears that were now taking in and calculating this sensorial ambush, together with the eyes and the nose—that long, long nose which, just before its terminus, sloped downward ever … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.19.19
Morning Miniature 3.16.19
When you return to the city after some time away from it, you notice its clamor, the noise that is part and parcel of urban life, that people immersed in it no longer hear. Sirens, heavy trucks, trains rumbling under open grates in the sidewalk—and throngs of cabbies slapping their wheels impatiently, unrelentingly, in anger … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.16.19
Morning Miniature 3.14.19
Lucy had kept a close watch on the gas gauge and promised herself she’d pull off the highway at an eighth tank, which was just about where the needle was now, maybe a skosh over. She was not far from the next town, only a couple of miles, where there’d be a gas station and … Continue reading Morning Miniature 3.14.19
Sycamore Stories 