I nervously walked through the main entrance of the Parkway Nursing Home. The first thing that hit me was the smell. I can’t explain it except that it was sour. My newspaper bags were heavily loaded ... [+]
5 min
I nervously walked through the main entrance of the Parkway Nursing Home. The first thing that hit me was the smell. I can’t explain it except that it was sour. My newspaper bags were heavily loaded ... [+]
It’s a Mexican thing. You have to be Mexican to understand the mixture of sadness, joy and resignation we associate with death. We don’t want to die, but we respect our relatives who have gone ... [+]
The wind blew with a gust making the black veil slip from Saira’s head; she grabbed it tightly and covered her face, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Finally she reached the ... [+]
Behind the white washed villa stands a rugged barren hill and as you slowly walk up the incline you feel the sensation of clay, sand and silt trickling in-between your toes through the gaps of you ... [+]
I had been there for almost three weeks when I first saw her. It would have seemed sort of bizarre, I guess, if everything else about the place hadn’t been so strange. I suppose I hadn’t really ... [+]
They had taken a drive out into the far plains where the distances looked wavy and desolate. Her name was Abigail and though she had once loved him greatly, something had changed down deep. His name ... [+]
“Stop right there, Sailor. Sailor Sam here will pick up his own property.”
Nudged by the long menacing stick gripped in his hand, Sailor Sam was encouraged to pick up his own property
... [+]
The mirror is an object of lies. As I stood in the bathroom looking in the mirror, I seen the lies through the piece of glass. I couldn't help but look at myself and see all my insecurities come to ... [+]
Stirred from his sleep by the ringing telephone, the plumber lets out a sigh after glancing at the clock in this early morning hour. He had hopes for a quiet Saturday, maybe go to a movie after a ... [+]
I have a trove of photographs from when the kids were small. I keep them in an old Hush Puppies box in the den underneath the cramped shelf where our old unused turntable sits.
It's a sad
... [+]
I had just managed to sit down and make myself comfortable for the 6 1⁄2 hour flight overseas.
He was one the last passengers to board our Boeing 737 bound for Honolulu.
Red faced and
... [+]
“Why would you have an egg in your hand at school?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
My sixteenth year as principal of Merriweather Lewis Elementary School was off to a swimming start
... [+]
Why did I get up that day? When I opened my eyes, I could only hear their disproportionate and incomprehensible screams. I thought about going to see what they wanted, but then I figured it would be ... [+]
I have two sisters.
Let’s call them Jill and Jane.
Jill lives in Manhattan and is an attorney in a prestigious law firm that represents people in show business. Jane lives in Brooklyn
... [+]
His death certificate says rhabdomyolysis and kidney failure but what really killed Jamie was words, couched in two bromides available over the counter - You Can Be Anything You Put Your Mind To and ... [+]
I live in a train. I have food, warmth, a place to sleep.
I feel certain that I am its sole occupant, for if there were anyone else on it I would know by now, as I have lived in this train my
... [+]
The girl's tears are soakers. They never flow enough to nourish me but that is not part of our bargain. She confides the secrets no one else can learn. I help her as much as one can by listening ... [+]
“Bill,” John said, in lieu of hello.
“John,” Bill replied, nodding his head.
“How are you,” John asked.
“Oh, the economy, you know.”
“Yeah, it’s not good
... [+]