Prior always faced the change in weather with dread. One of the blessings of the island was that the climate was overall good for his immune system. He'd had bronchitis on the island once, and pneumonia another time, both during that small window of winter.

And as soon as he saw the real change that the island had undergone - the time period in ( Read more... )

Every year, between Guy Fawkes Night and Thanksgiving, there was a holiday that everyone on the island could celebrate despite their cultural background. Tabula Rasa Day might not get the same fanfare as the other two red letter days, but it was well-enjoyed nonetheless because it commemorated the establishment of the community, a new home and a ( Read more... )

There's a kind of peace working at the Catscratch Club three nights a week. The lights are dim and the hours long, each bleeding seamlessly into the next. Week after week, Dean mixes cocktails at Roger's side and never forgets a customer's favorite drink, though he at times has trouble remembering if he's made one for them already that night, or ( Read more... )

Freddie was not an animal person. He knew there were plenty of people around the island who had cats and dogs and birds and all kinds of things that made noise and smelled and he'd never planned on being one of those people. He'd never wanted to be one of those people, but he didn't have a choice when Maureen disappeared. She'd left an animal ( Read more... )

September 17th, 2011:
"Things are getting better." He thought about the meeting with Florence and revised his wording. "Things were getting better. I'm not sure that can be true anymore." Florence came between them. She always had and, it seemed, she always would. Funny how he'd once viewed it as Anatoly coming between him and Florence. How things ( Read more... )

September 12, 2011:
This conversation isn't going to go well, there is no doubt about it but the old Anatoly would have run away as quickly as he could and left Freddie to shoulder all the blame. He was going to stay and tell the painful truth even if it broke him.Florence's arrival on the island dredges up old feelings and old fights, leaving her ( Read more... )

Running a slender finger over the spines of book after book, Trixa examined the Compound bookcase for any sign of a book on metalworking. Just because she could remember the bronze age, didn’t mean she actually remembered the bronze age and she had a case of scrounged copper tubing back at her hut she needed to start working with. She knew that ( Read more... )

Come and go, come and go. Maureen was gone, but Prior thought that in the end she would probably prefer it this way, always young and beautiful in the memories of the people left here on the island. A quick, rare bloom ( Read more... )

When I'd first come up with the idea of Casino Night, I wasn't sure if it was even possible on the island. In retrospect, that might have been naive of me, because if there was anything I'd learned in over four years on Tabula Rasa, it was that its residents were capable of doing just about anything save getting home ( Read more... )

I couldn't tell you exactly when it was that I became a party-planning guru. Considering that I'd died at a party, you would think I'd be less than fond of them, but I'd forgiven my killer and apparently forgiven parties, too. In retrospect, I think my penchant for revelry arose from having been given a second chance at life, and not just because ( Read more... )