• Breathe tooFamous, shame us; easily hated, hotly debated: What is more useful, a brother or an umbrella?

    Meditate on the umbrella for a minute…we leave them on buses. They walk off toward the train. Leave us standing in the rain. Don't we miss them then? When all is not right. When all has come and gone, and we realize we should have minded our belongings much better? Regardless the weather. Is he a brother when it is fair outside, or is it fair for me to be an only child? Why have you never walked his mile? Blisters on one's soul are not easy to forget. We carry our scars much dearer than we consider our fresh brood, bloodflesh relations. Our pasts seek retaliation. The brother is the umbrella keeping the sky from falling on your head. Ready, steady, breathe your confession to the deathbed:

    "I never did forget him. I wish I could take it all back."

  • SoupCecilia hadn't equated writing with craft; creating art in large-small, quick-slow key strokes. She'd never given any thought to whether or not a novelist was an artist. Cecilia liked her stories ripe and spicy, with only a word or two needing to be looked up in the dictionary. She figured some just wanted to see if they could do it. Cecilia's brain turned soupy with excitement as she pondered what to do with her free hour after lunch. She became particularly fascinated with how she would look once she finished her book. Would there be tell-tale signs of having taken up with pad and pen? Would a golden ray of light follow her everywhere she went? There was really only one way to find out. Cecilia slammed back the bowl of salty broth set in front of her, and had every intention of beginning her work after she scouted out an inspiring spot within the gray-green walls of home.