At the Window_Claiming Solitude_Gift Horse_The Long Dark Before the Sun
Catalog Guide:
At the Window
At the WindowShe didn’t want to check on Terry during the night, but he was odd again last night. Her husband, Bob, told her she was spoiling the boy by allowing him to fall asleep in her arms. It was three nights in a row that she held her son while he fell asleep. Bob had convinced her to leave the boy to him tonight. It could be a tough night, Bob said, and tomorrow as well, but he had to learn how to sleep through the night.“A boy needs loving parents,” Bob said, “but at six, ywww.onedoor.ccou don’t need to treat him like a baby. If he cries let me get him?”“Good night,” Mindy said as she rolled over.“I...
Claiming Solitude
“Are you coming tonight?” came the muffled question through the cubicle wall. Stacy’s enthusiasm came through loud and clear but Ramineh pretended not to have heard her. Ramineh depressed the power button of her computer and watched the screen go dark, just this small gesture gave her a sense of relief and she felt a loosening begin somewhere deep inside. The simple movement of pushing that off button signaled the end of another week and her accomplishment of successfully piloting herself through another sea of potentially turbulent and treacherous social waters. In her mind she drifted to tha...
Gift Horse
Rough edged black lines dance on old paper, released from its life sentence to the trunk. I correct my hunch, clear my throat, and perform an old oration. Inhale."Keep your wits about you: for your mind will play tricks." Pause for effect, smile coyly, bite lip. "Mine are better." And release breath. I dig out a couple more pieces of paper. I don't feel like writing a whole new routine. Turning around on the bed, I see a woman undressed, asleep since late this night. I consider waking her, but I just prepare to leave; it's more befitting of me.A shower, clean clothes, and my trunk is all I hav...
The Long Dark Before the Sun
It is the last time we’ll see the sun for 41 days. We watch it dip below the horizon as we string coloured glass beads to hang in the windows. These are our guardians during the long dark. My little sister whimpers on the bed and I scoop her into a cuddle. She asks when the wolves will come.My mother tells us stories of before the wolves, when the long dark was just cold and sunless, but survivable outside our huts. They used to light the paths with candles sheltered within jars and pushed into the snow to keep them upright. She told us the lights were fairies, and only turned into jars when y...