The parking lot was empty when I arrived, its single light flickering in the inky darkness. Windshield fogging, I wipe it clean with the cuff of my hoodie, and kept driving to row 10. The instructions were explicit, and I followed them. Desperate, I ignored everyone’s warnings and now, here I am, in the middle of a deserted parking lot in the dead of night, freezing while I wait. Headlights blind me as they drive up. Windows down, breath ballooning…
Tom glanced down the path ahead. It rolled uphill and around a curve. Guzzled the last of his water and wiped his sweaty forehead with a trembling hand. Legs fatigued, and certain he’d fall, Tom collapsed on the hot blacktop. “I’m down for the count. Not gonna make it, but I’ve had a good run. Go on without me. Tell them I tried.” Janice glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “You gonna do this our entire walk? We…
1. The formica table which sat below the window that was far too high on the wall. Or maybe I was so much shorter, and it seemed abnormally high to me. The table was always full of projects, papers, coupons, and bowls. The deseeding of figs for her sister, the coupons to give away. There was nothing particularly special or beautiful about the white and black table, but I remember how we sat in the battered chairs and discussed many…
Dear Reader, What a month it’s been! At the end of November, I crashed — and hard. I slept in far more than was normal for myself and struggled to sit at the writing desk and concentrate long enough to put coherent sentences together. It was a strange feeling to need a vacation after a month of digging deep and writing my heart out. I’ve taken part in National Novel Writing Month since back in 2009, and I never recall…