The snow fell in thick, lazy flakes, blanketing Evergreen Creek in a pristine white that should have felt magical, but instead felt suffocating. Amelia trudged through the drifts, her boots crunching on the frozen ground, the sound echoing hollowly in the unusually quiet streets. Garlands hung limply on lampposts, their festive cheer dulled by the heavy gray sky. Even the carolers gathered aroun...

Lock up my feelings

Throw them in a pit

Hide them from everyone

Just somehow get rid of it

Nobody wants them here

Nobody will want to hear

Make them go away

Then maybe they’ll stay near...

I finished typing on my computer composing an email to my boss asking if there was anything I might need to catch up on while I was off for the weekend when I checked the date. It was 4th of July weekend.

“Honey! Did you realize it’s 4th of July this weekend?” I called to Amanda who was in her room down the hall.

Quickly she stumbled into my room bursting through the door.

“Shit, no I didn’t. ...

Miriam was perched, lying in wait behind the blinds by the big chair when she heard the door open. She held her breath tightly inward. This had to be perfect.

The bedroom door now swung wide and she heard her husband toss his work bag aside and then fight to get his shoes off.

Then she pounced! Arms raised, wailing like a nightmare. Naturally he fell off the bed. She laughed.

“Holy shit, Mir...

She spent time mulling it over, comparing it with every other instance that readily came to mind but it seemed outright to be the winner; that has been the best sex she’d ever had.

Ellen had been more nervous than almost any other time, which had surely contributed to the- shall we say- payoff. She had not expected it to work out at all with Grace, let alone that well on the second date.

She w...

Sue and Jay did not have the best luck. Their trip up north had been first beaten back by crowds and traffic and then had rained out, leaving them to drive around, sightseeing through windshield wipers.

As expected, this led to an argument or two. Tension leads to more tension, doubly so in confined spaces.

But as the rain abated some and they pulled into a local five-and-dime to get gas and s...

Gina’s boot knocked a rock loose and, for some reason, she followed her intrusive instinct to wave at it as it fell.

Greg pushed through the brush at her back, breath heaving.

“You didn’t have to wait for me…” he assured her.

She assured him that she hadn’t. They had simply reached the point of elevation where you could see the world. At least that’s what her dad had said when she was little....

“So do I hit play now?” Martha asked, the remote suddenly foreign in her hand, as if she were holding some dead-eyed cod.

Tim chuckled with warmth, already ascending the ladder by the tree. “Yes, now, a minute ago, in an hour-whatever!” He shook his head softly. “As long as it’s on while we decorate, it counts.”

She pushed play and set the device down. “Counts? Didn’t realize there was a refere...

“Here, try the chocolate one.” Maggie giggled, holding the cupcake out frosting-first. The sun was setting leisurely, coloring the pale roof of the building in a clementine-orange. It caught in Maggie’s hair, beads of sunlight shining like crystals illuminated by her own warm aura. Sam grinned and leaned towards her, catching a whiff of what smelled like citrus. He opened his mouth for a bite and ...

He pretended not to notice as she entered the room and glanced furtively at the little box on the table. She pretended not to notice the little box. It was these pretences which kept them in their own bubbles.

He is a retired professor busy with his laptop, researching on places of wonder and events of interest. She is busy feeding, caring and nurturing everyone in their huge family, including hi...