I’ve heard it a couple of times just today: “As we head into the third year of Covid…” It makes my lungs freeze and my feet stick to the ground. They are playing Auld Lang Syne, “Old Long Since”, and I’m re-running my last year, and dreaming up goals for the new year. Covid has … Read more
She attended church with joyless obligation, lip-syncing hymns that praised suffering, with dentures that never quite fit, never a genuine smile. A few cigarettes in the station wagon on the way home, then she made Sunday dinner; chicken, mashed potatoes with beige gravy, and army-green beans. There was plenty, but she always chose the back … Read more
Nighttime at the barn is when the edges between now and then blur. Sometimes in the gloaming, there is movement in the shadows. Amid the chewing and breathing, there is just a flicker of something else. Don’t look directly, use peripheral vision. Un-define your gaze; almost look away and you might see them. The Ghost … Read more