The night was ominous from the moment I set out in the carriage with him. I was now a married woman. The wedding night. I lowered my nightgown and let it fall down my curious tingling flesh, warm and willing. He left abruptly after a long hard frightened stare at my nakedness. Displeasure and disappointment occupied his face. He recoiled and hastened from the room. Now I was cold- was I wrong to offer myself, or did my body…
I AM PERSUADED TO REMAIN IN THE LIGHT. So often I am dragged into dark places. Today I am safely ensconced in a dark place. I feel secure in the rage and gloom, as I am not sure what I am really feeling. Despite Renee Fleming’s entreaties with the “Moon Song”. The music seems only to comfort the mood and wrap it in a safer blanket to keep me trapped. Twice in a seven month period I have had my…
A SHORT STORY. READ QUICKLY. THEN READ SLOWLY. The bus arrived at 12:53 pm. By then a small crowd had gathered to await its arrival. So much jollity and exchange of banter was going on at the bus stop that I almost forgot to get on line. Not everyone who waited was talking or happily laughing. I had laughed earlier when I was on the other bus before switching to the 12:53 which I realized would take me closer…
FOLLOWED BY THE RULES. I found out that I was really a woman at age thirteen and Lord knows I resented the fact. Being a woman took me into a realm of restrictions and rules I did not care to keep. Rule number one: You can’t play cricket with the boys anymore on certain days. Rule number two: Do not climb any trees unless you are wearing slacks. Rule number three: Do not climb trees anymore Rule number…
I wrote my first love letter when I was fourteen. It wasn’t to the object of my affection, I had none then, instead, I was writing a letter to another woman on behalf of my brother. My brother had fallen in love. His very first crush is what I called it. He said he was in love. Stabbed viciously by Cupid he came running into the house on a Saturday morning as I reluctantly did my chores and dragged me…
When I was a child between the ages of seven and twelve I had an Uncle who had a grocery store along Maxfield Avenue. He wasn’t exactly my blood uncle and I never did find out how he was related to me. His name was Mr. Harry Lue and he had two sons, Charlie and Henry Lue and a wife. Charlie was eighteen when I was ten or so but it did not prevent him from expressing the desire to…
It was an unusual pain. Cameron gave a pause from peeling the onion. A very small onion that had her wondering why it matured and yet remained so small. A second twinge, then a run, then another twinge. Her shoulder hurt like there was arthritis, yet in the past her doctors had said she did not have arthritis. A thought came to her in a flash. Heart attack! Cameron wasn’t sure if she was making a statement or…
Pearl’s eyeballs were dry and felt very grainy when she looked up, down, or sideways. The grainy feeling made her wonder if there had been a dust storm as it was so bad. Pearl made an appointment to see the eye doctor and he looked around in her eye with his many gadgets and at the end of the examination, he told her that she had dry eyes. This he said, was a result of spending too much time…