Jocelyne knew her husband Roland quite well, she thought, at least in most respects. That is to say, she knew his habits, his movements,...

"It’s just a quick prick, and then we can get your paperwork squared away, "said the Food and Beverage manager. He was a heavyset man,...

On Sunday morning, the single day of respite for the farmworkers Skeets Tanimura showered alone behind a patched-together fence and under...

I still wear the cap Lorraine gave me. A loving gift for just being me. Lorraine was the Born-Again Christian I knew from a place in my...

The mountain trail was steep, and the tansy scent of bear clover wafted through the April air. Higby, Chuck, and Dean set out at first...

prana From the moment the curly-haired girl, whose name you can’t ever remember, set her first bare foot into the studio, you knew there...

There is no good way to call up my old dealer and ask if he can get me some cocaine because I kind of burned that bridge when I called...

The morning was cold and the sky was just turning pink. Joe drove us to the hospital. He was nervous because of his toe surgery and...

Twenty-seven Weeks Facing the toilet bowl, eyes squeezed shut, my fingers trace the wall to the toilet paper and tear off a thin, white...

You couldn't design a more fitting stereotype of a mid-level State Department functionary than Connor Kelly. Forty-one years old, just a...

“The teeth,” said John Lofland, student of medicine, “shall last as long as bone, when flesh is gone and turned to dust and the grave...

Patty settled on the bench, watching her seven-year-old daughter, Melissa, race to join the others at the swing set. There were four in...

James woke from a fitful sleep ripe with childhood monsters lurking under his bed and stealing into his dreams. Monsters that had faded...

Viesha took great pleasure in waking Hersh Wolf. Three times each week she took the elevator up to his apartment, opened the heavy wooden...

In stereotypical nosy neighbor fashion, Mairead Murphy pulled one of the slats on her blinds down and peeked out the front window of her...

Jessa sits in the noisy yellow school bus, her eight-year-old brother Gabe at her side on the cracked brown vinyl seat. They jounce their...

*** You may be surprised to learn it is still possible to send a telegram. I was certainly surprised when, not so long ago, a boy in a...

​ The most flamboyant and beloved character in the novel Full Moon over Estrogen Island was sophisticated, energetic, and had lived in...

Jessa sits in the noisy yellow school bus, her eight-year-old brother Gabe at her side on the cracked brown vinyl seat. They jounce their...

A somber drizzle filtered through the fog as Adam Carver headed for home. In a mesh shopping bag, he toted the Havarti his fiancée...