She let him kiss her there on the porch, a kiss that defied reason, rules and gravity.  The stars in the night sky approved, as did the sturdy wooden porch beneath them, the frail grasses leaning, the empty glider inviting them to sit.  The kiss made her thoughts swim, a long shadow on an ocean with no land in sight.  If they had a future it could not be known, not here, a question no one cared to ask since time had stopped and gathered itself into arms around the old farm house, the deep… Continue

.

When Daddy announced Mama wouldn't be coming home, Tessa quickly ran outside to cry alone with her best friend Othello, a magical seven year-old cat she believed could transmit wise thoughts. She wasn't exactly sure what Daddy's news meant but felt jagged things in her throat and stomach. She watched the blond grasses lean in the direction of the wind, invisible caresses passing over shimmery wheaten waves. Othello remained quietly…

Continue