Cessily moved the feather duster gingerly around the trophies and artifacts on the wood bookcases, the signed baseball in its little glass box, a love-worn teddy bear propped into a corner, and the small easel-backed photographs showing groups of triumphant and dewy-faced boys, grinning ear to ear. A boy in the middle of one photo … Continue reading Morning Miniature 9.6.19

She could hear the engine missing, the unmistakable sputter of a work truck grunting up the long asphalt drive, long before she saw it. Here it came, with a camper top over the bed and a ladder on its roof, and bundles of cables and electrical cords and tools piled high in the back. Lucy … Continue reading Morning Miniature 6.20.19

Claudia peered anxiously out of the east-facing casement windows of her little house, looking for any signs of Cecil; she had only just pulled the glass panels closed against the wind and fastened them tight. The storm had blown in quickly and now whipped the rain around crazily, one direction and then the other; she … Continue reading Morning Miniature 5.9.19

“It’s about damn time—thought you’d never call.” Susanna’s voice came through in fits and starts from the other end of a sketchy cell connection. “I can barely hear you….” Lucy held the phone to her left ear and pressed her other index finger hard into her right ear, straining to hear her friend over the … Continue reading Morning Miniature 4.24.19

Lucy woke from a deep sleep, disoriented but aware of light glancing off the walls around her, as if a person outside were trying to get a better look inside the cottage—could it be a flashlight? She lay still and silent, but her heart’s pounding was deafening. She chided herself for not yet having a … Continue reading Morning Miniature 4.16.19

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

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

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

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

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