Snow at the road edges was thick where Brendan rounded the final blind corner in his dad’s 68-reg Audi. When the farm came into view, it appeared to him as a romantic vision of a bygone England – the long tree-lined driveway and farmhouse and barns under white blankets could’ve been on a Christmas card.
Nicholas is already crying by the time I reach the cafeteria. No histrionics today, no wailing, no attention-seeking behavior; he’s just huddled by himself at the far end of an unoccupied table with his knees drawn up to his chest, tears dribbling out of his eyes and running down his cheeks, nose running a little,
Rob had five rules for a decent Saturday night out at south Dublin’s Dundrum Bowl, the scene of many tragedies. Win at pool, get digits, snog and get served. And importantly, you had to stay on his wavelength. These evenings were unpredictable, but they were an escape from drinking sherry from the bottle, while sitting
A paper cup spins slowly in the break room microwave. Maurice watches. The caffeine can’t come soon enough. His head hurts and his vision is blurry at the edges. Insomnia. The microwave dings and Maurice grabs his coffee. He takes his first sip and Sherrie trudges into the break room. “Morning,” she says. “How’s Jenny?
“I need your eyes,” Ben said, scanning the road through the windshield. “You’re supposed to be the navigator and you’re not paying attention.” And then, under his breath, “like usual.” In fairness, she wasn’t. Amanda was watching a huge group of blackbirds alight from an electrical line, together, a living swirl of beaks and feathers,
The warm evening air clung to Charlotte’s arms when she exited Waterloo and set off towards Brad Street. Clear skies, spread like a quilt over the city, suggested a long twilight. People told anecdotes in that shrill tone that comes after a few drinks as she walked by the crowded bars. ‘He keeps liking my
P.K.’s assistant, the guy famous in the office for banging secretaries against the wall of the powder room in the office’s main corridor, a guy named Nate Binswanger, told me to get over it. What exactly “it” meant to him, I wouldn’t know, but it pertained to my sulky attitude, he said, following the death
I always find Kendra by the corgi pen in the courtyard at lunch. We have two hundred square feet of mulch and rubber for the pups to run around down there. The corgis were donated by a local animal shelter after they went belly-up during citywide budget cuts. In December our phones went off the
Billy came with the villa, like the beds, chairs and dining table. The landlady – a soft-spoken Indonesian we called Ibu – said he was part of the rental agreement and mentioned by-the-by that his particular breed of parrot could be taught to speak if properly socialised. But my parents had other things on their
April 2020 Confettied by cherry blossom, I wait for his call. He would laugh at the self-created romantic picture, I think. How I miss that laugh. Every evening for the past month, my lover has rung between six and ten past six. I save my once-permitted daily exercise for this time. He is always finishing
