When I was in my twenties and living in New York City, I decided to impress my new boyfriend by serving Julia Child’s classic dish boeuf bourguignon in my apartment, which sat on the third floor of a dingy tenement walkup with a tiny and outdated kitchen. Some relevant facts: I was not a very […]
The room is rectangular, with hospital green walls that match the metal bed where the girl lies quietly. A half-open window faces her at the far end; a yellowed shade flutters with the light August breeze. Sparrows cheep busily outside. A battered wringer washer sits next to a big sink in the corner. The girl’s
Room: A Child with Polio Read More »
It’s an old railroad style house fronting a thin street, not far from the train tracks and stockyards. Cole comes out the front door for a moment to check on his motorcycle. He won’t be staying long, but it’s dusk and he knows the neighborhood. The icy wind stings his face like bees. He’s visiting
“Step on a crack, break your mother’s back,” Ray dutifully reminded himself as he watched his left shoe, and then his right shoe, pass each other on the sidewalk below, looking from his vantage point like compact autos negotiating a tiny two-lane road. If one could even call it that, given a buckling surface strewn
This is a story about shoes, 300 pairs give or take, and my 30-year relationship with a significant other named Amy, who lived in Kansas with her parakeet, and whom I never got a chance to meet. Amy and I were introduced to each other in the early 1970s through N.O.S.E., or the National Odd
A few years ago on a sultry Friday in July, my then-partner and I ventured in our RV up to the Orient Land Trust in Colorado, where we planned to spend a weekend camping and soaking in their hot springs. The OTL website says, “Visitors of all ages and walks of life enjoy free educational
The Orient Land Trust Read More »