Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
The university doctor examined me. Then all of his students examined me. “As you can see,” he explained, “the uterus is tipped, making bringing a fetus to term unlikely.” After I had dressed and sitting in his office we had a conversation. “The risk of miscarriage is high.” “I’ve already Read more
Johnson’s eyes darted across the room. He spotted a middle-aged blonde, a teenager wearing bright, purple lipstick and a black young man who appeared to be her boyfriend. He approached them. They were huddled together weeping and comforting one another.
The landing at the top of the stairs sounded the loudest lament. Her fingers traced the expansion and contraction lines on the white-washed plaster walls as she took the first steps slowly, navigating the bowed and weakened wood on the stairs. The house and her family were accustomed to her. Read more
“Call her.” Bo steers their late model Buick into the dirt driveway with one hand and flicks her Camel out the window with the other hand. “Regina worshiped President Kennedy. She won’t refuse a call today. Someone dies, you want a phone call.” It’s Bo’s week to chauffeur herself and Read more
Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to. Don’t try to see through the distances. That’s not for human beings. Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move. – Rumi Nicole Harkin didn’t believe in making New Year’s resolutions. Like most people, she would break them Read more
There comes an age when screwing up is not cute anymore. You know that, because people are constantly telling you. It’s not cute anymore, Raleigh. My name is Raleigh, by the way; Raleigh of Boston, Massachusetts. Although to be fair, my mother is from Raleigh the actual city, so it Read more
Hazel face was a map of wrinkles and sagging, topography disintegrating because gravity worked overtime on her. Wiry hair sprung from her jaw and upper lip, and her nose slumped toward her chin as if the two conspired to form a snout. Her eyebrows were fierce and unmanageable, an odd Read more
Patricia coasts through her suburban streets. She waves to pigtailed neighbor children who stand in front of daffodils and golden retrievers, who stomp on dandelions and blow bubbles. She’s in the middle of a wave when she sees the tip of the truck’s bed, and her heart starts racing—almost like Read more