Tag Archives: Mainstream

CHE Word Count: 362 She once shaved her head and renamed herself “Che.” They threw her out of Sociology for boisterous behavior. The last time she started with a cry for revolt from the top of the desk. Some joined … Continue reading →

EYE OF THE HORSE Word Count: 367 In the eye of the horse she saw herself as a thin golden princess, a waif wrapped in a butterfly wing dress with rose petal sleeves. In the mirror she herself was a … Continue reading →

CHANGE OF HABITS Word Count: 361 He was just an old man who liked children, that’s all. Caught up in the witch hunts of the eighties. “I know you didn’t,” said his wife, Mary, “I know you couldn’t,” and she … Continue reading →

SCARECROWS AND STRAWMEN Word Count: 539 From the window over the kitchen sink he watched her and his heart sank, settling like a stone skipped over a pond. He felt the surface ripples circling outward to the edges of his … Continue reading →

KNOCKOUT Word Count: 444 Two days after she held a pillow over her infant granddaughter’s face as she was sleeping, Edna Waters tied a cement block to her ankle and drowned in the pond behind her house. I agree it … Continue reading →

CHANGE COMES TO WILLOWBROOK DRIVE Word Count: 487 It is an unusual Tuesday morning in this neighborhood of town. People move along like spiders with their prey. Mrs. Smith is in her nightgown with her shell of jacket for propriety, … Continue reading →

THE MATTRESS Word Count: 317 It was silly to worry about it, to feel shame. This she told herself again and again before finally deciding that they absolutely had to buy a new mattress set. The problem was not with … Continue reading →

THE FOOT (for Hank, with love and understanding) Word Count: 529 Mr. Zefferelli kept his amputated foot in a wooden box stored on a shelf in his closet. It had been cut off just below the knee because of an … Continue reading →

THE WOMAN WHO COLLECTS CHERRY PITS Word Count: 780 The woman who collected cherry pits wore woolen skirts all year around. She wore nylon stockings rolled down and knotted at the knee the way everyone’s grandmother’s mother did at one … Continue reading →

THE RAINDROP IN ITS MOMENT Word Count: 253 She said, “This morning I watched a single raindrop suddenly lit up by the rising sun. It flickered like a firefly, clinging to the tippity-tip of a new grown spurt of branch. … Continue reading →