Sixth Stage

Eve sat alone looking around her empty house. It was deafeningly quiet. In the year since her husband died, it had been a whirlwind of must dos. She went through every stage they say and busily performed all the never-ending diligence tasks to punctuate the paperwork end of someone’s life. Now she confronted the last stage—toContinue reading “Sixth Stage”

What is Emotional Bullying?

Most people agree a bully is someone who physically assaults another by pushing, hitting, punching, grabbing, knocking books out of hands, stuffing someone into a locker or a dumpster, sticking a head into a toilet, etc. But physical bullying is not the only brand of terror; emotional bullying often leaves as many and deeper scars,Continue reading “What is Emotional Bullying?”

Happiness is NOT a Warm RV

In a pandemic world of limited safe travel, two girlfriends and I decided to take an RV trip to visit another friend a few states away who was isolated, depressed and in need of a boost. With the best intentions, we rented a small RV to minimize contact with the outside world. It was theContinue reading “Happiness is NOT a Warm RV”

The White City

From her first step off the el train, Maggie’s eyes widened in wonder. The newspaper accounts and word-of-mouth tales of the grand White City paled in comparison with her green eyes looking at the real thing. After seven years in America, she was accustomed to the sight of buildings tall enough to reach the sky,Continue reading “The White City”

 Select-o-matic Husband

Author Note: The Twilight Zone was a popular show in the 50’s and 60’s that peered through the looking glass at a skewed way to view certain issues in our society in a fantastical way. In the year 2200, women are now the dominating force in the world. After the nuclear WWIII, women around theContinue reading ” Select-o-matic Husband”

Talk to the Hand

Before “talk to the hand” became popular, I believe I used and saw the idea of that gesture many times. As a parent, you often feel that many conversations with your child, back and forth, can be illustrated with one hand held affirmatively in the stop position. With young children, you want them to quicklyContinue reading “Talk to the Hand”

Waiting for a Reply

“Another email about Mary’s game night? What to bring, what time, what day, you think we were Congress trying to negotiate a bill, right lol. It’s not rocket science.” Caroline quickly replied to the email and went back to work. Then she heard another ding notifying her computer that she had an email. When sheContinue reading “Waiting for a Reply”

Reruns

“Hi Mom, I need to ask you something about your crockpot.” Jamie called her mother on Facetime.  “I can see you, can you see me? Isn’t this Facetimes thing fun?” her mother laughed.   “Mom, hold the phone back, I can only see your mouth. Good. I’m using your old crockpot.  How did you getContinue reading “Reruns”

Attic Adventures

Cammie was bored. The ten-hour car trip with her mother, grandmother and aunts was bad enough, but when they reached her great aunt’s house, there was literally nothing to do. No Wi-Fi, no TV, nothing. Her great aunt Gertrude recently had a health scare, so they wanted to visit her while they could. Gertrude livedContinue reading “Attic Adventures”

Time Capsule

It was the last day of high school in the year 1971 in a small Midwestern town. Four best friends secretly buried time capsules under the tree in front of the high school to commemorate their time there and vowed to meet fifty years later to dig it up. All agreed to put three itemsContinue reading “Time Capsule”