A search of the woman’s desk revealed previously unknown details about her dark past. The private detective hired by her fiancé, Jonathan, to investigate her financial past found that Jillian was in a huge amount of debt, exacerbated by her inability to find a job due to the unexplained shortfalls in receipts at her previous job, where she had... Continue Reading →
Growing Past the Playing Cards All Day Phase
Gemma looked at the cards in her hands as she played bid whist with her friends in the Bridge Club on Fifth Street. There were few events in her life more satisfying than "running a Boston" on her opponents. She lived for each time she and her partner won every hand. She would jump up... Continue Reading →
Learning to Live with the Pain without the Opioids
I am experiencing two types of nerve pain in my spine, cervical and lumbar radiculopathy. I thought I had a problem with my right shoulder, but after seeing a neurosurgeon, I found that it is a vertebra in my neck impinging on a nerve. The doctor prescribed pain pills and Gabapentin. I completed 10 visits... Continue Reading →
It’s the Unkept Promises that Cause Children’s Hearts to Hurt
I can still hear my father over the phone, making promises to come and spend time with my sister and me. He had a lovely baritone voice, and when he laughed, his whole body seemed to shake with mirth. I adored him, even though I probably only spent ten days of my entire childhood with... Continue Reading →
To Have the Wings of a Butterfly and Fly Away to Rest
Image Credit: Aaron Burden @ Unsplash I envy the butterflies, whose wings make them free To soar high in the sky to many places I'd like to go. But I can only dream and wish for that sweet freedom, That would let me fly away and rest from my woes. Places that water, sky, and... Continue Reading →
Peace Comes When the Beat of the Music and the Beats of My Heart Become One
I spent many a day trying to find peace in a chaotic world. The way it was described to me was that peace was the absence of noise, a quiet time of contemplation and reflection. But I found that not to be so. Peace is like beauty, in the eye of the beholder, meaning it... Continue Reading →
Women Who Like Hugs: Laughing Along with a Limerick
You can look, but do not touch, Charlie had heard a few times too much. So, he changed the type of woman to date, Choosing women who didn’t care what they ate, Finding them more agreeable to a clutch. Written for Laughing Along With A Limerick from Esther Chilton. I thought I would try it.... Continue Reading →
I Used to Think I was Ordinary, But No More!
Paris, France, May 2024 As a black woman raised in the South in Tennessee, I thought that I was an ordinary person, nothing special about me. I was told that I would probably live my whole life in the South, never going beyond the boundary of my hometown. I was also someone who loved books... Continue Reading →
Uniting Our Physical Sight with Our Spiritual Sight Makes the World Clearer to “See”
Image Credit: Jeff Hardi @Unsplash Julia wanted the bandages removed so badly, for the world seemed so dangerous without her eyesight. She worried that someone could hurt her, and she couldn't give an account of their appearance to anyone. She'd learned to watch people like a hawk because she had suffered from mistaking charm and... Continue Reading →
A Case of False Identity: Fandango Story Starter Challenge
The woman sitting next to me slipped a note into my hand that read, “He’s not who he says he is.” I had a momentary lapse in my thinking because I had bought everything the guy said as truth. He looked the part of a successful investment broker, with his $1000 gray pinstriped suit, $125... Continue Reading →
Help from Heaven 