h1

Conclusions

January 10, 2011
We killed the doves first. Elmer made sure we all had ear protection, then fired the sonic cannon he built in his garage. Feathered bodies rained down. It works! It works! we crowed, though we could only see each other’s lips move. 

Next, we tried fish. What else were we going to do with that truckload of pesticide? Besides, the surface of the creek was so pretty once the minnows floated up, undulating silverlike in the current.

The end of the world? the anchor asked.

Elmer chuckled. See? he said. I told you they’d jump to conclusions.

Posted in Not so true | Leave a Comment »

h1

Separate landscapes

January 8, 2011
He said it aloud, finally, and that was the moment she stopped mapping out her notions of family, permanent, future. 

How did it get this bad? she asked. I didn’t even notice.

Was it ever all that good? he replied.

They realized, then, the width of the chasm across which they spoke, the volume of the wind, the depth at which the water rushed by below. They might as well have been living in separate landscapes. They might as well have stopped seeking out rope bridges long ago shredded and fallen away.

Posted in Kind of true | Leave a Comment »

h1

Held whole

January 6, 2011

The day felt like stones in her pockets, and she could not help but sit awhile, watching the sky turn from pink to deep blue, watching the moon rise above the city. She had woken that morning expecting to see herself in the mirror, but instead, she peered at a mosaic, her face cracked into small squares and reassembled, glued, shellacked.

It was quiet there, as the sun set and the moon rose. It got colder after awhile, but she stayed, listening to her heart beating, hoping its thud-thud would not crack any of the mortar holding her whole.

Posted in Not so true | 2 Comments »

h1

Queens today

January 4, 2011
They let her wear her green velvet dress for the occasion, the one with the sash, the one that went best with patent leather Mary Janes.

They popped Christmas crackers first, paper crowns and plastic toys and jokes spilling onto the tablecloth. When the scones arrived, she donned her crown, and demanded the rest of the table do the same.

“We can all be queens today,” she decreed, and so it was.

Posted in Kind of true | Leave a Comment »

h1

Loading zone

January 2, 2011

The drivers idle their cars beside the station in the dark. They await the whistle and the rolling suitcases and exchange tired hugs with travelers they collect.

He used to hug her half-heartedly, when she rode back and forth to Sacramento, before their plans derailed. If he’d known how easily she’d slip away, he might have met her trainside, taken her suitcase for her.

Sometimes, he still parks, walks past the drivers to the platform, and stands there as the train pulls in. He wonders if he just missed her, or if maybe she’ll finally come home.

Posted in Not so true | 2 Comments »

h1

No place like home

December 30, 2010

“All you have to do is tap your heels together and say, ‘There’s no place like home,’ and you’ll get there,” said the mother to her four-year-old. “See? Try it if you want to go home so badly.”

He looked up at her from his perch in the stroller he was already outgrowing. She didn’t want to give it up quite yet — there were still times when he tired before the rest of the family.

“But you just did it,” he said. “And you’re still right here.”

Posted in Kind of true | Leave a Comment »

h1

Dizzy, dizzy days

December 28, 2010

Compasses sometimes point North, but other times spin like tops, so turvy with uncertainty, so lost to the magnet. Scientists would call it impossible — such a thing cannot become unmoored. Logicians would argue the lack of cognitive structure. But the artists would remind you to hold tight and love the directionless world unfolding. These are dizzy, dizzy days.

Posted in Kind of true | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Entries
Older Entries »