"Have you been drinking?" he asked. We were sitting on the sofa. "Vodka," I said. He tilted his head slightly and leaned towards me. "Why?" I couldn't speak. I wished I knew where in the vodka bottle was drunk but not passed out. Of course, there was no law that said I had to tell …
Men in Dark Alleys
"Hey honey," said a man in an alley we were walking by. Now, I'm an expert at pretending not to notice things. This is not always a good skill, but it comes in handy when strangers shout things from dark places. My friends, L & J, however, turned and looked down the alley; consequently, they …
Stupid and Imaginative
T. didn't want to leave the party. She'd met a guy and she wasn't going to ruin her night by having to take me back to the dorm. It was 2 in the morning. I didn't know who to call. My roommate was out of town. My neighbors didn't have cars. One did, but she …
Christmas Girlfriends
The first girlfriend after the divorce was British and blonde. Beverly went back to England soon after Christmas and I sat in the backseat of dad's Chevy Nova and cried. I was 5 and wanted dad to marry her so that I could have a mom with an accent. Another Christmas was spent with the …
Celebrate and Look to the Stars
Happy starry nights to all. Now go do something fun.
Fear and Deadly Combinations
I opened the bathroom and there he was in the hallway waiting for me. I slammed the door shut to keep him out, but knew he could easily get in under the door. Or he'd wait me out. I'd think he'd given up and he'd be around the corner. My temperature rose and my heart …
Hey, you remind me of, you know,…
Mom used to look at this picture and wonder if anyone could see a resemblance between her and her mother. She never could. I try to see which writers have most influenced my writing, but I can't see any resemblance though I know it is there. Which writers have influenced you? How do you know?
It is easy to disappear.
"We don't know where he is," my aunt said about 7 years ago, and we still don't know. She was talking about my Uncle Scott. Here is how he vanished. Nearly deaf and with plenty of other issues piled on top, he grew up in and out of group homes. He could carve perfect tiny …
Virgins and Pizza
My manager waved to me when I walked in through the back door. I looked at the address of the next pizza to deliver, slipped the cardboard box into the blue, insulated delivery bag, and turned around to head back out. "See you soon, Virgin Pelrine," my manager said. He called everyone by his or …
Sell Yourself
"I saw your light was on," P. said. He had moved into a house across the street, and so he knew when I was home and who came to visit. We had broken up a month before and I was seeing the tactophobe. I didn't want to talk to him, but I didn't want to …
Marta Bacon 