Charlie couldn't help but think of Sharon as a bad penny who kept turning up, often in surprising places. Either that, or like the boomerang shellacked with metallic flecks which he'd been gifted by his quirky Uncle Jerry for his sixteenth birthday; he had lost his fascination with the objects after he turned 13 and discovered the attraction of ( Read more... )

My parents appeared to be a fairly mismatched pair, especially as far as onlooker observations may go. My dad was a troublemaker who barely finished high school in the tiny town he grew up in, and my mom was class valedictorian, a university student with plans of moving anywhere a good distance from her childhood home. Dad was the youngest child of ( Read more... )

“Excuse me, ma’am ( Read more... )

My son (who is 10) has a definite technique when it comes to picking up his stuff and helping with general clean up ( Read more... )

"That's too many limes ( Read more... )

In 6th grade science with Mr. Gerard, we watched as Mama Beaver slid her slick, black nose out of her tunnel and sniffed. Then she moved her head out further and looked around slowly, perking her ears as as strongly as she could since they served her more faithfully and consistently than her eyes, as our teacher had explained ( Read more... )

Joey dragged her grimy, dusty keds toward the back door, knowing all that awaited her inside besides a nice salami sandwich was a bath and probably her grandmother with nagging, overly detailed instructions on how to get cleaned up and make herself presentable for her birthday party that evening. As she softly pushed open the kitchen door, trying ( Read more... )

They were laid out before us on the counter, four beautiful, inviting pies. Each had had one small slice removed the night before for us to savor and appreciate prior to today's festivities, or debacle depending on how you chose to look at it.

My sister Terri had selected the french silk; Casey had (a little foolishly in my opinion) opted for ( Read more... )

The first time Jake woke up, his vision from his right eye was bleary with sleep. From his left eye, he couldn't see much of anything. He tried to raise his left hand to that eye and found it weighted down and covered in a bulky bandage with the exception of slots which freed his thumb and pinkie. Then he looked over at this right hand and found ( Read more... )

I don’t get preoccupied these days like I used to. I was pondering and sort of racking my memory to try to come up with a time I was sidetracked when it suddenly struck me that my attention had been diverted fairly recently by a bit of an odd item ( Read more... )