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Basalluminal
wingback
SEND NOTE
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digital creature
At first it was just sore. "Don't worry about it, it will go away," he promised. So I waited. Neosporin, bandaids, wart remover; nothing seemed to work. It looked like a miniature red grape had fused itself to the end of my index finger, and I wasn't too happy(more)
fiction | fantasy
walls between
what is not there is a
warmth, a  tender belly roll
pressing,  heart searching like a
song for the listener
  
Poetry
fat lip
Becca watched it all in his glasses.  She never even felt queasy she would think later.  Blood flowed wet  from a hole in her lip.  The gash was shaped like a fish mouth.  A shiny curved needle pulled thick black thread through the gash and cinched it together.  F(more)
Fiction
studying
The first time it happened, she was studying at the kitchen table;  palmaris longus, flexor digitorum, the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the hand.  The colored illustrations swam and seemed unreal, the table unfamiliar.  Momentarily, she became a stranger inside herself, her finger on the(more)
fiction | reality | philosop...
in the middle
He would go in the middle of the night. That's when he awoke to leave his dorm and walk toward the foothills.  Usually there were enough stray stars and a clipping of moonlight for him to find his way.  He watched for shadows of coyotes or the mountain lion rumored to(more)
Stanford | fiction
convenience store
A wall of breath mints, energy drinks and slim jims protects the cashier. He looks warily at me. An old brown Doberman lifts his head off the broken-down cardboard box he sleeps on and yawns.  

I always feel guilty in these places.  The way I'm perceived makes me feel(more)
Fiction | Parkinso...
grotesque beauty
They haunt me still,  the scenes of panicked chase.  Chase, fall, kill.  A suede neck gone limp.  Wide staring eyes unseeing, nose twitching, the relaxed pause of a killer catching his breath, licking his lips.
(more)
Memoir | animals
loving punishment
He craved it.  That's why Sheila, Becky, and Mari didn't work.  Hell, if he was honest, that's why none of them ever worked.  He remembered the puzzled look on Mari's face.  "You want me to do what?" she had asked, with a slightly disgusted look.  Unable  to repea(more)
Fiction
lightning bolt
My Dad, who set aside two hours every Sunday for family safety time, instilled the fear in me.  We were driving home from church in a pounding Southern rainstorm when, stopping at a red light, he shouted "Kids!  What would you do right now if a lightning bolt hit the car?"(more)
family | memoir | lightnin...
gone
She never forgot the first time.  She stood at the foot of the bed, the attending and residents closer to the monitor, all of them watching the jaggedy green line change shapes.  The high-pitched beeping was irregular.  Her eyes were on the patient, an old, gaunt man with yellowish skin.(more)
rental property
I've always ached for a house of my own, a place in the world where I can paint the walls egg-yolk yellow if I want to.  My house would have hardwood floors, tall light-filled atria, a slate tile shower with a heated floor and a big bathtub next to a(more)
whipped cream
"Oh, that's what you brought?"
Her tone made Ansley wince inside.
"I thought y'all wanted me to bring whipped cream."
She smiled, lifting the Cool Whip from the Kroger bag and regarding it sympathetically.  "We did, but this will do."

A weighty loneliness settled itself into Ansley's chest.(more)
hop scotch
apples in
pockets king of
the hill snow
angels clumps
of girls with
rubber-banded (more)
Children | snow | poetry
he baked
(Blonde female with corporate look, french manicure, very white teeth): "Look at this folks!  He baked thirty-nine, that's right, THIRTY NINE in just 3 days!"

(Clapping, oohing and ahhing.  Camera pans over display of 39 on very clean granite countertop).

(Brunette male with button-up (more)
hipster sunglasses
(Note found tacked on utility pole at 10th and W. Burnside near Powells Books)

REWARD!!!!
LOST SUNGLASSES
Last seen near my cappuccino on counter 10/21 11:17 am
Terqouise, plastic frame, big lense flip-up (yes u read that right)
Rayban Wayfarer-esk, super hip
*other identifying markers present(more)