Fiction
It was getting dark. Zoe lay on the hammock on the front porch eating an ice-cream sundae. She looked out at the golden lake thoughtfully. The porch door slammed. Zoe scooted over for her twin brother, Hunter. "Thinkin'?" Zoe nodded. She slurped a chocolate drip off the side of the tall glass. Hunter carefully watched [...]
Fiction
"Man, I can't wait until I get out of here, and I can live with a real family," John said for the millionth time to his best friend in the orphanage, Tom. "Yeah, but I'll sure miss you when you're gone," Tom answered while wolfing down some cornbread at dinner. John and Tom had lived [...]
Fiction
Retsina flipped her long, black hair behind her. She looked around at the empty, quiet bunker she lived in. Once it was filled with the joyous shouts of girls, but now only deafening silence reigned, echoing off the stone walls. Girls here on Matia 3 were expected to raise large families, but ten years ago, [...]
Fiction
The day was hot and humid, one of those lazy days that always found themselves in a place like Marrisvine. Bare legs hanging off the creaky, wooden porch, head pancaked between her hands, Athena, half in a doze, was watching the dying grass stir in the seldom stirs of wind. The classic sign of boredom. [...]
Fiction
Art class. The comforting scent of paints and crayons greeted me as I made my way into the room. As if by magic all of my problems seemed to slip away, like I was losing many heavy weights that were tied to my heart. For two hours, those long-awaited two hours on Friday afternoons, I [...]
Fiction
It has been three years since she, my one and only best friend, left, and I am dying to see her. She had lived down the street and I had known her forever. I have vivid memories of her room: clothes strewn all over, hanging on chairs, underneath her bed, and piled on her desk. [...]
Fiction
"Scruffy! Where are you?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Where could he be?" I asked in dismay. I turned around to make my way to Hickory Hill where I thought Scruffy might be lurking. Just then I heard a faint bark and in the next moment a little furry husky had tumbled [...]
Fiction
A Connecticut Yankee Visits the Bronx
As I stepped out of Byron's family Suburban, I could feel the powerful presence of Yankee Stadium. Coming from a small town, just being in the city was exciting. Today was Byron's birthday and he had invited Matthew, David and myself to go to this game. We were really hyped up. I remember Byron saying [...]
Poems
At midnight today, the first snowflake fell Wandering through miles of clear December air. It blew onto my windowpane And lay there, a silent witness To the candlelight twinkling within And the stars without.
Poems
Warm light Streams from the sky Snow swirls in freezing wind Still, I will go out. Through the branches sprinkles A shower of light A lesson from the trees About the winter sun Here is Miyo's poem in Japanese: atatakai hikari ga sora kara futte kuru fukisusabu kitakaze no naka sore de mo watakushi [...]
Book Reviews
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt; Henry Holt and Company: New York, 1999; $16.95 Has a trailer from nowhere with a 300-pound boy inside ever pulled up in front of your local grocery store? That's exactly what happened in When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. When I first picked up this [...]
Book Reviews
The Dancer Who Flew: A Memoir of Rudolf Nureyev
The Dancer Who Flew: A Memoir of Rudolf Nureyev by Linda Maybarduk; Tundra Books: Toronto, 1999; $18.95 When I was nine years old, I was in a musical at the local university in my town, the University of Michigan. My friends in the cast and I would stand in the wings and watch the dancers [...]
