Lorna shuffles along, curved shoulders hunched slightly forward, bald spot at the back of her head. Every morning she combs and teases the brittle numbered follicles that remain, in a last ditch effort to hide the circle of shame atop her head. Still fastidiously neat, being old school, she swipes lipstick across her thinning lips …
Tag: friendship
Mrs. Knapp
Mrs. Knapp had been a teacher prior to her retirement, whereupon she became simply old Mrs. Knapp (as she was referred to by all the kids in the neighborhood). Berenice's mother said Mrs. Knapp was older than our elementary school, older than the park on Falstaff, even older than some of the shade trees lining …
Expectations
Great Expectations THAT DAY was a day like every other. Maybe it was this awareness that tipped the scale. We'll never know. But, you know people, we live to surmise. Thing is, Jeffrey was bored, really bored and had been for quite a while. I remember him saying to me one day that he was …
Antitheses
Photo by Kei Scampa They literally collided, one day, in the hallway at work. One was turning a corner, rather sharply, arms loaded with supplies and the other was bee-lining it to the bathroom. From the get go, they were not mutually simpatico. A superficial dusting unearthed a snobbish pedantic know it all to one …
Linked
They walked home from the party, arms linked. The next morning, the tiny flat they shared would reek of that funky "the day after smell" of cigarette smoke. Both were slightly drunk and terribly happy, as neither one needed to go in to work the next day. Jules' evening shift at the restaurant had been …
The courtyard
Back then, during the cold winter evenings, the five women would gather in Ida's barn to keep warm. They looked forward to this time of day when they could meet and talk; seated on wooden chairs huddled close together in a circle amidst the familiar scent of manure, feed and dust. The body heat off …
Sharing books
My sister first introduced me to Anne Perry and her historical (Victorian era) detective fiction. Her two most popular series are The Monk Mysteries set in the 1850s/60s and the Thomas Pitt Mysteries set in the 1880s/90s. She also has a WWI series and a Christmas series along with loads of other works. Her evocation …
Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls
What a read! A confession of sorts within an answer to a question..."What were you to my father?" A declaration of having existed on this earth and left a mark. The highs are dizzyingly so and the lows are lower than pond scum. Somewhere in between is the exercise of living. Living to do, to …
A day at the beach with Margaret Drabble
Sea breezes, the squawk of gulls, the scent of coco and salty air; I am at the beach. Colorful mini shops on wheels sell cheerful brightly colored bikinis, towels and beaded jewellery. The sky is dotted with para-sailors and the water with windsurfers, paddle boats and bobbing heads. Mothers call out to their children to …
Snippets of Life (from A to Z) “U”
THE LETTER "U" Unbelievable! She refused to understand that I was her only true friend. Upset at being told what she knew deep down to be true, she chose to remain unfailingly devoted to those undermining her. These unctuous uncharitable individuals, who ridiculed her in private, were those to whom she offered undying friendship. As …
Manu writes 