Everyone laughed. They said it was just a game and one for nerds especially. She’ll have the last laugh, though. Returning as Scrabble Queen with the $500,000 check will show…
The stage had been set. Literally. She’d simultaneously dreamed of and feared this moment for a week that felt like a lifetime. Would they like her? Would she stumble over…
Somewhere far off in the distance the buffalo roamed. There’d been deer and elk and prairie dogs more abundant than ants. The clouds hung low, nearing clipping the tops of…
It seemed so silly now—splitting the wood and stacking it in this heat. Sweat poured off his face and streamed down his back. His grip on the splitting wedge kept…
They dug a hole and put you six feet underground. All those years I never said what I really should have said. The regret fills every empty space you left.…
Hey you. Yeah, that’s right…I’m talking to you. What are you looking at? Huh? Never seen a squirrel with a nut? What? What was that? You say something? No I…
The emails came at all hours. And then there were the constant texts and phone calls, and why hadn’t he checked his Facebook? It was too much. So one day…
I stumbled, eventually falling forward. They were quickly approaching behind me, but I could not push myself up. My slow, final breaths blew into the blades of green grass tickling…
He’d stolen the fruit. The lemon tree in his backyard, with its few bruised blossoms, could hardly make him the money his family needed. He knew the oranges would go…
Grandpa taught me so many lessons. But the one I remember most is that a grapefruit a day would keep the doctor away. Now Grandpa’s gone. And all I have…
Going to work, exercising, cleaning the house, running errands, making meals, and leaving time for family and friends. It leaves no DVR time. Yes, I think I’ll have to quit…
He’d always lived on the farm. Others spent their teenage years talking of getting out, but he’d always wanted to stay. He loved the hard work and wide open spaces…
We’d just finished swimming. It’d been searing hot. Thunderclouds boiled up in the distance, but there it was, a spotlight behind the clouds. A proclamation about to be announced. I…
First Half. First 10-K. First marathon. A strained Achilles. Getting passed by a grandma. New PR. Best race ever. Miserable run. The one I ran by myself. Separately they all…
This little girl had dreams. Necklaces, bracelets, and fancy sunglasses made her feel special and grown-up. She fantasized about the glamour of being an adult and of dressing up for…
It pounds and throbs, a cement block caving in on my eyes. I fall asleep and when I wake up, it’s still there. There’s nothing to chase it away except…
It’s insufferable, this pain. They’re gone. He’s left. It can’t be fixed. There’s no way out. I’ve taken the punches and endured the elements. It can all be gone. If…
