When I arrived in France, I didn’t anticipate splitting a double cheese pizza with a Pakistani refugee in an Auchan grocery store. But refugee, I’ve learned, isn’t the right word....
Until my first chigger attack, I walked barefoot across my expansive front yard to my mailbox atop a metal post. It takes time before the bites appear; when they do,...
with a hundred acres, and a silo, a big green tractor, with a hound dog named Shiloh to ride shotgun, tending to the rows of corn, or sunflowers, endless fields...
It was the spring of eighth grade, and Laura and I had fallen for the same guy. His real name was Derek, but between us we called him Dr. Pepper...
“Have you ever thought about suicide?” My new psychiatrist asked me. I focused my eyes on his shirt. What a stupid question to ask. Obviously, I thought about it constantly....
What did I think, then, in those years biding my time, waiting? Waiting: for life to get serious, whatever that might mean; for maturity, whatever that would feel like. But...
1. The Awakening. I’m waking from a sad dream. In the dream, my husband Leo is uncharacteristically crying at me, saying, “When was the last time we were really happy?”...
“What do you mean illegal?” I ask. The only sound is the metallic ring of the spoon on the china cup as my dad stirs sugar into his coffee. It takes...
Last weekend you wore long, loose shorts. Your workout clothes— billowing, breathable black t-shirt and those silky, baggy shorts—obstructed my view. I’d wanted to see your legs. But when I...
“His name is Eggplant,” said John as we examined his dying fish inside the large aquarium in the middle of his living room. This was before we started dry humping...
How old were you when you had your first crush? you ask me out of the blue as I lean over the table, clearing the supper dishes. We’re alone, your...