“Ethan!” His parents were in the kitchen when he walked in. He’d figured they’d be waiting for him. His mom, neck stretched, hands on hips, barking. His dad, closemouthed, sitting on a stool at the breakfast counter, both feet planted on the floor, one elbow down on the counter, one hand in his hair. “Are […]
On a scale of one to ten, Taylor Hoffman’s confidence bounced between 7.5 and 9. He knew his little sister was going to die, had known it for some time, hadn’t said those words to anyone ever, and didn’t intend to. A solid student, he lived off-campus with two other guys and worked two afternoons […]
Lauren walked around the bed, took her chair, flopped an arm on her daughter’s bed and leaned toward her. “I thought your dad was a jock, okay? For whatever reason. He was on a scholarship and I just assumed it was a baseball scholarship. He had that kind of look, that’s what I thought right […]
The poetry reading had been going well. This annual Philly event drew a sizable crowd, but this year—for unexplained reasons—the hall was jammed. Crammed in the third row, at the break I stood to stretch and look around. McQuitty, one of our greatest local poets, was sitting at the end of the last row. I […]