He arrived on Nathan’s tenth birthday. It wasn’t a shock; it was as if Nathan had been waiting for him to appear all along. It had been a nice day, a little chaotic, but nice all the same. After opening the presents and tucking into a mountain of sandwiches, at three o’clock they cut the
About a year ago, I was at a book launch in Dublin and a card caught my eye as I was leaving. I had my newborn in the pram with me (I figured she wasn’t sleeping anyway, so she might as well come to a book launch). It was coming up to Mother’s Day, and
Surrounded by bamboo trees, Molly lounges in her stained oak rocking chair, observing her spotted male cat and wondering which Goddess showered the boy with the gift of true patience. But not the kind exhibited by humans, who simply fall into a momentary lapse of reason and stare with vacant eyes at their immediate surroundings.
Every Saturday, Luna walked to an adoption center. She put on a coat and two scarves. More often than not, she carried a piece of fruit. One Saturday, it was a peach. She rolled it between her fingers, by turns gentle, then violent. Luna needed a family. She wanted a child that wasn’t too young
Too possessive to be a friend. Demanding to the point of being an acquired taste. He calls my name and expects me to come running and even if I close my eyes and try to ignore him, I hear him and feel him. God, I hate that. He never stays in the morning. That side
Snow piles on Suki’s hakama and makes her grow heavier. Every now and then, crystal flakes will catch in her hair and pepper it white. The flakes are cold powder around her, powder and icy sludge. Suki thinks she might be falling apart. She’s not exactly sure. Sometimes, she feels put together and driven, like
The world was ruined, but I was the only one who could see; the sky bright red, buildings burning. Streets and buildings on fire. But the world seemed normal to everybody else. Overgrown carousels with faded creatures and bumper cars mocked with the inability to move, carrying instead a ride into fear. The wind rattled
I knew mom wasn’t handling the divorce well when my brother had to toss her Temptations before she would help him with his homework. Mom would jump up from a crouched position and snag the snacks mid-air and chew away. She chased and ate mice before fixing dinner, and one time she trapped a sparrow
