A Dreaded Encounter

Last fall…

He asked for my phone number. My father’s condition with cancer had taken a turn for the worst, so dating wasn’t exactly a priority for me. But someone had made me laugh for the first time in quite a while. It felt good to smile. He had done that for me on the few occasions when I stopped into the campus convenience store for a coffee re-fill. Instead of giving him my number, I took his. Continue reading A Dreaded Encounter

“Hit it!

1979.
Nine o’clock in the morning and the pavement was already hot on her bare, little legs. She sat on the sidewalk in denim cut-offs and a yellow tube top. Tightening the yellow marble rubber-band do-hicky holding her ponytail in place, she wondered if she was ready for her sister to pull her around on roller skates behind their bicycle. They liked to pretend they were water-skiing. Somewhere they had seen this: people floating in the water behind a boat, just their heads bobbing around until they said the magic words “Hit it!” Then, seconds later they were magically standing on top of the water, scooting around like someone in socks on a hardwood floor. Continue reading “Hit it!