We strongly believe that where there are people, there is always the hope -- and it’s not a small hope -- for peace and for love. And as long as we have the wherewithal and the means to help, we must keep going.
Hikokimori
“Um. Lorna? Scott and I need a favor. “
Scotty can’t ask her himself? This saddens her. Paul is the leader. Dominant, she cringes. It is Paul who will decide whether she and Scotty have any kind of relationship. It is Paul who will decide if her son ever sees her again.
The Jewish Year
For Rosh Hashana, my mother took me and my father to her sister. We had a celebratory dinner with a honey cake for desert to make the upcoming year sweet, and my uncle spoke against God and religion, a habit he developed for holiday dinners. The three of us stayed there for two days. I called the neighborhood kids to join me in my circus training, while my parents had grapes or cake on the verandah with relatives.
Fire Damage
The trainmaster nodded as Roy stepped forward. “Okay, pay attention. The yardmaster is Hank.” He glanced toward the tracks. “That’s him over there with no shirt on. He’ll tell you what to do. If you get injured, tell Hank, and he’ll tend to it. Don’t bother the railway surgeon unless you need something amputated. Got it?”
Long Ago Is Far Away
Danny placed his hand in O’Hara’s and left it to O’Hara to shake it. What kind of handshake was that? No sense of joy, no enthusiasm for an old friend. It almost made O’Hara step back to re-evaluate the person in front of him. They had double-dated the McCormick twins, and smoked pot huddled in the nearby woods on winter nights so cold the trees made cracking sounds. Didn’t this mean anything to Danny?
The Machine
I sprinkle shuffle wax on the shiny deck of the bowling machine. I concentrate — my hand on the cool metal puck, testing the friction before the push and then the folding of the pins and the whir of spinning numbers. I’m careful to stay behind the foul line, even when dad’s not giving me his side-eyed look to make sure I’m still there, playing by the rules.