The Past Is Not Dead
The Past Is Not DeadAs the sound of the pipes rolled out of the laptop, I said, “You never got to hear your Grandpa George play his bagpipes. I wish you had. He loved his pipes, and loved playing...
View ArticleTo A Baby, Everything Is A New Thing
To A Baby, Everything Is A New ThingI accepted the delicate object into my hands, cradling it as I had done before with others of its kind. This, though, was nothing like anything else.He looked up at...
View ArticleI Will Anchor Myself More Firmly To My Bones
I Will Anchor Myself To My Bones More FirmlyThere is a charming Yiddish word for a man who gets by with one hustle after another: luftmensch, which means literally “air man” - a man with, as the legal...
View ArticleWatch Your Head, Sweetheart
My life had fallen into two modes: at home by myself, or when I was going out. “Going out” also covered those extremely rare occasions when someone was coming to visit me. Then, “home” became a part of...
View ArticleWhat Never Added Up, Will Add Up
My phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and answered, even though it was a unfamiliar number.“Hello, is this Kathe Bottero’s husband?”“Well, I was for awhile, anyway.”Only 35 years….“Hi, my name is...
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For Saying No At First, But Yes As An Afterthought
Epimetheus, the god of afterthought, is a sad sort of fellow, as gods go. I’m not aware of him appearing in any myth other than the first creation of Humanity, where he gets cast as the clown, the...
View ArticleSong Into Sacrament
One thing it is not possible to say is that my Quaker Meeting can provide a truly uplifting and satisfying singing experience. When Kathe and I were attending together she would often compare the...
View ArticleHoneysuckle Under The Moon
“If I hear the word ‘honeysuckle’, for instance,” Miguel said, “or if I see honeysuckle growing somewhere, or a picture of it, my mind will always go back to one particular Summer night in Georgia when...
View ArticleThanking Our Dead Teachers
I heard the prompt, “Thanking Our Dead Teachers”, and turned it over in my mind. It could refer to people whose stories I had heard of people who lived long ago, or people of long ago whose books I had...
View ArticleThe Amassing of Things
Things accumulate around you in the normal course of life. For many people, their accumulation of things is a direct function of how much space is available to hold them. They may become a burden,...
View ArticleThe Afternoon Froze
I sat in the small space in front of the apartment, looking out at the parking lot, savoring the August heat. For some reason, I relished the warmth, and welcomed it into my body, as though I had...
View ArticleIt Happened so Quickly
We’d gotten up early to drive to Portland. This was the culmination of years of effort, struggle, sacrifice, tedium, false starts, disappointments, embarrassment, humiliation.Anyone who thinks adoption...
View ArticleWe Never Belonged To You
Dear Mom and Dad:Thank you for all the care and love you put into rearing us. We are all pretty well-adjusted and well-launched into life, and we have you to thank for a lot of that.You need to know,...
View ArticleElseworlds
https://youtu.be/bRRjlIycb9o I like making up my own Elseworlds stories - I'm sure that's not a rarity.I think it's too bad that Wonder Woman's German Expressionist Elseworld was based on The Blue...
View ArticleHope Is Borne On Wings
“Oh, look, the dove of peace - that must be a good sign!”I looked where Hayes was pointing. Sure enough, among the pigeons searching for food on the macadam, one had completely white feathers, which...
View ArticleIf I Were Doing My Laundry
I wake up at six to take my pills, awakened by an alarm clock across the room to ensure I get up. I reset the alarm for later in the morning and then, evidently, go back to bed without actually taking...
View ArticleThat Doesn’t Mean It’s Always Pleasant
Jack looked up at the tree. Kate had been right, this was clearly Grandmother Tree. As they stepped under its canopy, Kate dropped her pack. Jack did the same. He pressed his back against it, spreading...
View ArticleMan of Steel (2020 Revision)
STREET SCENE: JOE and JERRY walk down an otherwise-empty urban sidewalk, the camera preceding them down the sidewalk, slightly higher than eye level, so that we look slightly down on them.JOE I’M NOT...
View ArticleDreaming Yourself Across Magical Landscapes
My phone went off, reminding me that it was bedtime. Somehow, getting to bed at a reasonable hour had been more of a luxury than ever since the plague had struck, but I was determined to make it...
View ArticleOn Eagles’ Wings
As we walked along the sidewalk, Dad paused and pointed upward. All I saw in the sky was the contrail of a jet.“Look…it flies!”“Haven’t you seen them before?” my brother asked archly.“Heck, I’ve even...
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