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Shunning is done with silent delight.
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It wasn’t the right plant for the right place like she’d hoped.
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It was a monumental act of kindness.
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I bought the perfect shoes to wear to my niece’s wedding. They were black leather with an inch and a half kitten heel. Just above the heel was a gold plate that made me glisten when I walked. But I didn’t have a dress, so I made one. I haven’t done any real sewing, not
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“Your ideas are weird. We don’t want to play with you anymore,” said first grader Selene to first grader me. We were writing a script for a play everyone didn’t know they already knew the words to. They were such babies. I figured the first grade debacle was just frustration over writing the script, and
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She twirled and emerged from the rose that was her dress. The petals, layers of dark crimson velvet and rose red chiffon fell around her pirouettes and toe shoes. She leapt through the air. All eyes were on her. Grace and glory. A vision of beauty in time and space, she couldn’t have been more
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He wasn’t sure he could stay up that late. It was a fluke that he was awake at this hour.
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When I got to college the world changed.
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The lights went low and laser lights, mirror balls, black lights, and neon blazed.
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The principal smiled a cold smile. He didn’t like my question.
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Halloween Slumber Party
“Hello.” I heard it plain as day. I knew right then it was coming back to the house from the storage facility. I took a pickup truckload of stuff to my building, in the rain and brought back a Ouija Board. “Hello,” it said again, louder this time. I knew where it was and Read more
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Trick or Treat Ghost
“Stop, I lost my shoe,” Bonnie said. She was crying. It was pitch dark and we were in the middle of a flower bed in somebody’s front yard. There were four of us. Bonnie was the tiniest five year old I knew. She looked about three and was just as annoying. None of us wanted Read more
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The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed I still can’t watch The Bad Seed without getting the heebie jeebies. The first time I saw it, I was about ten years old, and it was a Saturday after the cartoons had all gone off. Mom was busy doing mom things, the brothers and sisters were gone, maybe everyone was. But Read more
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Norris Lives
I finished it. I finished Norris Lives, a 25K word sequel to Norris Tales, the Adventures of an Awful House Cat. I sent it off to a publisher. Norris draws first blood. He is a jewel thief. He steals the remote as well as little kid’s lunch money. He cheats at cards and loves a Read more
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Velvet Heart
Janet stood in front of the mirror and admired herself. The twenty-pound weight loss looked good in the deep red velvet dress she wore. It hugged her waist, plunged at the neck, and flounced from a complete circle to the floor. It was the dress of her dreams, and she was stunning. She twirled in Read more
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On Writing; Inspired by Erma Bombeck
“I’ve taken my typewriter to the hospital with me for kidney infections. I have taken it on camping trips, and the sand has gotten in the keys. It is just like the most fierce habit you can imagine. It is there, and it stares at you like a conscience.” ~ Erma Bombeck I must write. Read more
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Shunning is done with silent delight.
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It wasn’t the right plant for the right place like she’d hoped.
-
It was a monumental act of kindness.
-
I bought the perfect shoes to wear to my niece’s wedding. They were black leather with an inch and a half kitten heel. Just above the heel was a gold plate that made me glisten when I walked. But I didn’t have a dress, so I made one. I haven’t done any real sewing, not
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“Your ideas are weird. We don’t want to play with you anymore,” said first grader Selene to first grader me. We were writing a script for a play everyone didn’t know they already knew the words to. They were such babies. I figured the first grade debacle was just frustration over writing the script, and
-
She twirled and emerged from the rose that was her dress. The petals, layers of dark crimson velvet and rose red chiffon fell around her pirouettes and toe shoes. She leapt through the air. All eyes were on her. Grace and glory. A vision of beauty in time and space, she couldn’t have been more
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He wasn’t sure he could stay up that late. It was a fluke that he was awake at this hour.
-
When I got to college the world changed.
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The lights went low and laser lights, mirror balls, black lights, and neon blazed.
-
The principal smiled a cold smile. He didn’t like my question.
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Well, you never asked…
Your eyes filled with tears-Why didn’t you let me help?Well, you never asked.Can I come as well?I’m bouncing from foot to foot.Well, you never asked.Why don’t you join meSwinging arms, walking, skipping?Well, you never asked. Well, you never asked….is a statement about you or me. I could make it all about me, or all about…
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Longing: 2 Haiku
Longing: 1 HaikuClosing my eyes andWanting what hasn’t been gainedSmiling wistfullyLonging: 2 HaikuSpending time aloneI rub my hand o’r my heartA weight in my chest
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Thank you, Mr. Sullivan
I suppose the Appalachian tradition of giving kids weird names, Stanley Hugo, Ervin Otto, or even Oral Homer was part and parcel of growing up in the isolation of the hollers. I was the last of the kids to get a holler name before we moved out to the suburbs, I suppose.My brother got stuck…
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Report Card
My son is judging me. If he were to give me a report card it would be how long do I stay awake when I come home from school, how much time do I spend writing, how often and well do I cook for him, how clean do I keep my room, how clean do…
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Norris and the Easter Bunny
Norris heard the rustling in the living room last night before I did. Thinking the worst, he leapt out of bed, and snagged my cheek with his back claw, narrowly missing my eye. Blood poured from the gash he left. There would be a scar. Dammit Norris. While he hotfooted it to the stirring in…

