The first grey light penetrated the darkness. I closed my eyes hoping sleep would return, but the sky was blanching quickly. Beside me, Susie murmured, rolled over. Through the half…
Landslide Excerpts
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Who are the designs for?” I asked Mom. I had found Mom in Garden’s little Monastery. As a surprise, Jay had shipped the Monastery in pieces to Mom from Romania,…
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The lights dimmed. The band washed onto the stage. Clapping was silenced before its crescendo by a vocalist with a gravelly, raw voice who sang of pain and work, reality…
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Fernando’s voice soared. He had spotted me over the corn. His hand stretched out theatrically, and as his note rose, his bushy black moustache quivered. Maria scowled to chide Fernando’s…
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“I am seeing in light,” Giovanni told me unexpectedly, like a confession. I looked at him, confused. “I always have, from when I am small.” The back of…
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“One day,” my father Jay said, his eyes taking on a faraway look, “I came across this elk.” I watched Jay’s eyes fill as if he could see the…
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A high-pitched beep signaled, the sound of Susie’s pager. “That’s my photographer Bob. He says there’s action on the street. In fact, I can hear it,” she said, excitement growing in…
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Garden’s Colonnade ended at the Maze. When I was little, I was terrified of the Maze, terrified that I would be lost forever inside. To make me less frightened, Mom…
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From the rocks’ height, I could see a dusty trail on our drive-way, meaning cars were coming. It occurred to me that they would take John Jay. It occurred to…
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Soon, though, Fernando was banging frantically on the French doors. Maria jumped up. Mom came rushing at the noise. “It’s gone,” he stammered when Mom threw open the door. “What…
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“Rico is farting like a German,” said Giovanni as we walked together along the beach. “The stink of it. Even with the windows open.” “Can’t you just put him outside?”…
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Mom beaded the way grandmas knit. She could make anything – wall art, bed spreads, Halloween costumes. Some of her beads were so small that when strung, they blended like carpets,…
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“I take it you have had your toy lion, Lionel, for a while?” Charlie asked. “Jay gave him to me when I was four,” I replied. “And Jay is?” “My…
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As I searched in the crannies of the earliest sunspots where the lizard first crept out of the night’s cold, I heard the throaty sound of a motor. Mom heard…
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Crossing my fingers and then my toes, I counted backwards from ten. At zero, I ran. Quickly, the Garden gave way, and a sage-like, dusty smell snuffed out Garden’s green…
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A quilt covered Charlie’s navy blue childhood bed. Above the bed hung a very large pin board covered with photos. I moved in to look more closely. There were images…
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My animals were separated by four mending Bonsai. Most had severed branches like amputees. One had a long crack in its main trunk and was slowly dying. All its leaves…
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I held Anna with one hand, while loading the dishwasher with the other. She had her bottle and was tilting her head back to suck on it. “Took my…
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I could hear Maria coming. They would make this real; if they caught me it would be true. It could not be true, not ever. Susie moved toward me, but…
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Mom said what made Jay such a good photographer was that he was exceptionally patient. When he sensed a shot, he waited, some-times for days. Mom said she couldn’t count…