Reading the fine print

image link The lady I worked with when I signed the final papers for ownership in the gated community of Better Than You Estates gave me a handbook of the rules of what could and could not be done with the property. At the time, I thought, hey if I own it, and if nobody…

playing language

image link Aria was born with a lisp. Her parents thought it was cute and so did the boys at school. Aria hated her lisp, so she learned to play the xylophone– and stopped speaking; being a bright and inventive child, she developed a language with her xylophone. Aria was taken to every doctor, psychiatrist,…

Giggling in the Rainforest

image link Annie had been anxious and fearful for as long as she could remember. She was sure that some of it had to do with her chaotic upbringing that included abuse and neglect. As Annie grew into teenhood, then young adulthood, it seemed the anxiety and fear had become ingrained as bad habits. The…

Mara and Harald

In Whosville, a quiet suburb of Metropolis, on a quiet lane, lived Mara, a voyeur, and Harald, a narcissist. They had been next door neighbors for years. Mara had set up her telescope in the upstairs back room and was able to look into the lives of the neighbors’ yards and homes that didn’t have…

Won’t get fooled again

image link Pam was approaching her fifth anniversary of singlehood. She had her sanctuary, affectionately nicknamed “the nest” just the way she wanted it. After her nasty breakup with Chad, she’d had a lot of time to dissect what went wrong between them. She began to learn about gaslighting and now considered herself to be…

Anti-Prophecy

image link   The week after second Tuesday in November 2020. The votes have been counted and reviewed, with all “inconsistent” votes flagged for deeper investigation. It doesn’t matter. Cheeto won by a landslide. As Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned, Cheeto tweeted, “Need official way to sanctify my relection [sic]. New Christen [sic] flag…

Disneyland

image link It was September and cold weather wasn’t far away. Troy decided to convert his wood-burning fireplace into one that burned compressed sawdust chips for the coming winter. He went out to Klegslist looking for bargains on the chips to save even more money on heating his home this coming often sub-zero Michigan winter….