Archive for Archive for May, 2006
Drought
Virga. It was the dirtiest word Buck knew, even after a career in the Army. He stood on the back porch and watched the blue-gray clouds pass in review, saluting him with virga. If it didn’t rain soon, he’d have to sell off the rest of the herd, and he didn’t know how to tell […]
U.S.S. Sudden Jerk
At 0500, the XO called out a new bearing and the helmsman turned her, heading home to Bastia harbor. The night had been warm, moonless, and star-lit. The patrol was uneventful this time—no sightings, no encounters with the enemy, nothing at all to chase. Dawn gave way to the sunrise, until finally the sky was […]
A Night at the Theater
James couldn’t concentrate on the play because the woman sitting in front of him was losing a hair pin. It was pretty, jeweled and sparkling, and slowly working out of her sleek French roll. Every time she moved, or tilted her golden head toward her unworthy date, it slipped out a little more. It was […]
North Light
It was an awkward house, but the entire north wall was covered in windows, revealing a grand view of the bay. “I’ll take it,” he told the realtor, “today.” “Don’t you want to look upstairs, or in the kitchen?” she asked, because the house had been on the market a long time. He began painting, […]
Keeping Up With the Joneses
My name is Greer. I rarely talk about myself, because then I need to explain about my sister, my twin Greta, and our older sister Claudette. We think our little brother, Taylor, got off easy. No one notices anything unusual about someone named Robert T. Jones, Jr. He could have been so rotten, but Tay […]
The Bus
The New York City bus passed by the farm every evening at 5:50. But it was safer maybe, to catch the morning bus to Los Angeles. Marcy thought about no snow, palm trees, and aqua-white surf on golden sand, but decided finally that without a car, it would be easier to live in New York. […]