• Anger Management

    She was nervous when she arrived at the hotel: they had met for lunch a couple of times, but this was to be their first private meeting and although she had some idea what to expect, the cluster of knots that formed in her stomach mixed anticipation, trepidation, and a little bit of uneasiness. She…

  • Redwoods

    Marie woke up in a cold sweat, sitting — it was a cliché, she knew immediately, but there it was — sitting bolt upright as she opened her eyes and looked around. It was her bedroom, everything was in its place and familiar. She had been dreaming again, about the redwood forest. Something was hidden…

  • Apron

    The first thing he noticed was the apron. It should have been the woman, but there was something about the way she had cinched the ties around her waist, accenting her figure, that got his attention right away. The smears of flour where she had wiped her hands, to answer the phone — or just…

  • Afflicted – 2

    Later he glimpsed her with her companion — husband? beard? He could not imagine her sleeping with anyone else — waiting for their car near the valet station. He went to the coat check, then to the valet for his own car. He held his wife’s coat, helped her into the car, then went around…

  • The End of the World (II)

    When we were young we lived in fear:  the Russians — no, the USSR — were coming for us. We held our breath and cowered under our desks waiting for the end of the world. Then the enemy collapsed which every house of cards must do. In its place another illusion a succession of threats…

  • Pugnacious

    At the secluded house, far from the city, we dine together on the porch: me in the Adirondack chair, and you at my feet.  We spent the day outdoors, enjoying the sun and the countryside: hiking, mostly, and swimming in the ponds and streams we happened across on our way. The sun is setting now,…

  • The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

    I.  Conquest They meet by chance, in a crowded coffee-house: too many people sitting at too few tables.  He looks around the room, and finds her: attractive, young, projecting confidence that (to the careful observer) betrays some small inner insecurity.  And alone at her table, reading a book and making notes.  She wears a light…

  • Unbearable

    The summer heat was intolerable. Lisa, returning home from a long workday, was stripping off her top almost before the apartment door closed behind her. She was tired, hungry, and just plain uncomfortable: the heat and humidity were bad enough, but on a day like today they were compounded, reflected, and magnified by a thousand…

  • Waiting for The End of the World

    When we were young we lived in fear:  the Russians — no, the USSR — were coming for us. We held our breath and cowered under our desks waiting for the end of the world. Then the enemy collapsed and became a modern state or so we thought until today. We look, and shake our…

  • Mouth

    The thin curve of her lips was something of a perpetual smile, he thought. For even when her mouth was closed tightly, the lips pressed together and her jaw set in what was supposed to be rigid disapproval — of what, didn’t matter — that line curled slightly upward at the corners. He thought a…