“Jennifer, I want you to have this,” whispered the old woman through cracked lips. Her knotted hands fumbled for a small potted plant on the nightstand. A short stem, an handful of small leaves, one already turning a light tan color. “This is Joe. I named him after your grandfather.”

The girl took the plant from her grandmother, turned the pathetic looking thing over in her hands.

“Take good ca...

I knew the kind of kid he was as soon as he entered my coffee shop. Obnoxious. Loud. Cocky. The kind of kid you’d cross the street to avoid, not because you were scared of them but because you don’t need the hassle.

“Got any muffins?” he demanded while stood in front of a display of six different varieties of muffin - homemade of course.

I waved at the selection under his nose. “Of course, sir...

Awakened

Noise imagined on the edge of sleep

Dreaming?

Other senses tell me not

Ears straining

Not a stirring nor a creaking to be heard

Eyes closing

Returning to the arms of slumber

But a feeling

A sense of nearby presence taking hold

Something watching

Waiting, for an undefended time

Moonlight dances

Running through branches, across leaves

Stretching, twisting

Throwing visions into doubt

Eyes ...

“Houston be aware - I’m coming in hot.”

“Roger that, Zenith One. We expected this. Brace for a bumpy landing.”

I braced all I could in the coffin-like pod, bunching my fists and screwing my eyes tight. Thoughts of Emily popped into my head, the way when she smiled at me she always gave me a little wink, something I’d never seen her do to anyone else. I couldn’t wait to see her. I had only been a...

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

As we take a moment to look back on this year, I am reminded it is a miracle that we have made it this far. Though our continued thoughts are with Miss Happanovich - may she regain her sense of smell soon.

Our year started as it always does, full of hope and anticipation for the learning and growth to come, a feeling that lasted until a school record of eleven-...

The bar was bright and not too busy. Thursday nights were usually quiet, especially when wintery snow flurries swirled in the cones of phosphorent yellow cast by the street lamps.

Rosemary grabbed a seat at a raised table, perching herself on a high barstool. She was cute, had a unique sense of style, had a wisdom greater than mine. It was only our second date and I was nervous. I had abandoned ...

Where would I be without you?

Not dead

Not depressed

Nothing so bereft

Of feeling

Of meaning

Of unsatisfying leanings

But weaker

Meeker

Without passion or desire

Without direction

Nor protection

And the means to fight the fires

Of absurdity

And modernity

But to seek the reasoning

Search for joy

Raise a boy

And a girl who must begin

To find their own hearts

Strike their own paths

Into worlds we ...

Icy rain, propelled by swollen gusts, beats upon the cracked, dry earth, tanned from the long summer. Now is time for change. Green to yellow, to red, to brown. Finally to gray. Ready for the rebirth.

A single patch of ground remains dry, a desert surrounded by a flood. At its center stands an isolated figure. He is hard to see, shouldn’t be there, will not allow the eyes to focus. But he is the...