Lurking behind the leaky faucet was the stingy, irresponsible, absentee landlord, who (she was told) doubles as a physician when not playing proprietor. His responses to no heat, plumbing troubles, and a resident rat out back varied from; “Gee, never had any of those problems before”, “live with it”, “here’s how to fix it”. He put the place on the market three months before her lease was up subjecting her to a floozy real estate agent and her team of incompetent cohorts, major inconveniences… Continue

Amid the flurry and frenzy of middle school bodies emptying out of the long line of yellow school buses, she waited next to a battered cluster of daffodils that struggled to bud and blossom up and out of a pile of wet moldy wood chips. She looked carefully for a particular rather small unkempt boy while cheerily greeting anyone who cared to notice her. He sauntered towards her, his long shaggy hair blowing in the wind, adjusting his oversized and over worn sweatshirt in an effort to prevent it… Continue

Ellen pulled an arm muscle as she struggled into her faded gray spandex exercise top. The pain of her hard plastic glasses squishing against her face was the reminder (seconds too late) to remember to take them off before squirming head first into the tight stretchy opening of her tank top. Finally stuffed and sucked into her workout gear and already out of breath, Ellen headed out for a walk; however needed to cut it short due to severe upper body skin chafing; fat folds, spandex and cold… Continue

As I dive into the deep end and swim towards his tender gaze from across the pool, my yearning to be with him is interrupted as I continue to fixate on my shapeless blue bathing suit which loosely hangs over my aging figure. The crisp chlorinated water around me feels so exquisite; my worries escape until my ill-fitting suit pulls me back to the depths of self-consciousness. I come up for air and swim towards the shallow end; my hair looks good, although wet, dark and flat. His arms embrace me… Continue