by Peter Ferry
After the fire that burned her house to the ground … there had been some unspecified problems with the insurance and also some questions about smoke detectors: had they been operational? Had they failed? Why hadn’t they awakened the family? Or had they perhaps awakened the children? They didn’t remember. Continue reading
by Donna Everhart
“For a time, I’d thought our family was happy, but my naïveté was only a safeguard from reality. As things fell apart between Mama and Daddy, I blamed myself, feeling responsible for how it started. But it was what Daddy did that sealed our fate. And when Uncle Ray showed up appearing to be full of good intentions about helping us out, he ended up causing more than his own share of trouble.” Continue reading
By Kathleen Donohoe
“Delia spoke of Flynn delicately, leaving openings for Claire to tell her the truth. Won’t your mother come looking for him? Doesn’t she want him with her? But Claire said no, her mother was sick to death of kids.” Continue reading
by Paula Whyman
When I was younger and my friends came to visit, my mother would say, “Include your sister,” but Donna didn’t wait for an invitation. She followed me from room to room, a ghost in white tennis socks with pink puff balls at the heels and a nightgown she wore all day if she didn’t go out. Continue reading
by Linda Letger
I was still contemplating the shoes . . . and the possibility that my mother wouldn’t ever let me grow up . . . when I came through the door just behind the podium where Father Gault gave speeches. Continue reading
by Natalie Serber
A couple months before I received the breast cancer diagnosis, before I was forced to accept in the deepest possible way that I am not in charge, my daughter came home on break from college and showed me in her particular way that I am not in charge. Continue reading
by Robin Black
At the age of 39, just about two decades after having the dream that amplified my misguided conviction that genius should be my goal, I was finally able to write. Continue reading
