“It offended his sense of proportion and economy to throw away a ninety-percent serviceable string of lights. It offended his sense of himself, because he was an individual from an age of individuals, and a string of lights was, like him, an individual thing. No matter how little the thing had cost, to throw it … Continue reading
“There is no better time than the autumn to begin forgetting things that trouble us, allowing them to fall away like drifted leaves. There is no better time to dance again, to make the most out of every crumb of sunlight and warm body and soul with its rays before it falls asleep and becomes … Continue reading
“I almost feel sorry for her now. So easy to feel sorry for someone whose life is full of such tasks and aspirations. Lying here, in her place, on her bed, my head on her pillow, it is all pitifully clear: Emma is the engine of this home, the person who propels it forward, … Continue reading
“But he is going east, the worst direction, into unhealth, soot, and stink, a smothering hole where you can’t move without killing somebody. Yet the highway suckered him on, and a sign says Pottstown 2. He almost brakes. But then he thinks.” Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom is getting old and it is not going gracefully. He’s … Continue reading
Most of the people who knew my mother either slept with her or wished they had, including me, my aunt Medina and a man who boarded with us; though he was neither old nor someone’s father, he went by the name of “Pops.” I know that’s ambiguous, but it’s better left ambiguous for now. As … Continue reading
