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The Secret Veterinarian
by Julie Albright (Summer 2004) Since my wife left, I mostly talk to people I don't know very well. It's funny how you can get to be my age and suddenly your conversations are with strangers. My kids call every once in a while, but mostly they phone their mother, or don't talk to either of us, which worries me a little. I never have figured out how much grown children are supposed to communicate with their parents. Rachel and Ellen are in their early thirties, and Eddie will turn forty in a couple of years. I want them to call, but when they do, I feel as though we're about to get caught at something. more...... We Are Heartbroken by Julie Albright (Summer 2004) The volunteers met on a Sunday in January. It was snowy, and inside the animal shelter a crowd of fifteen or so was bundled in scarves and hats, armed with Kleenex, sitting on the floor in puddles of slush from their boots. Amelia thought they were awfully surly for people who supposedly wanted to do something nice. Everyone who wanted to be a volunteer Dog Walker or Cat Cuddler at the shelter was required to attend the one-hour orientation program. Amelia wasn't sure what you could you say about dog-walking that would take up an entire hour, but she didn't have anywhere else to be. more...... Unexpected Tide by Jennifer Bannan (2004) Audra pulled back the heavy curtains of the hotel room, watched the promenade of pretty South Beach people below. They formed a vibrating mass that thinned out toward the horizon, where she could make out just a few heads bobbing in the ocean. It was like watching a living thing disperse into all of its atoms, each one as desperate and quivering as the whole. more...... Where You Still Are by Laura Bork (2003) It wasn't always like this, this city. There was a library built of brick and glass and filled with books and tables, and it smelled of crisp paper and wooden pencils and of knowledge. There was a bridge that spanned a still river—a river that curved to the south, and to the east it met a vast cold lake full of sturgeon and rainbow trout, yellow-suited swimmers and lifeguards in row boats, and pilings tinted green with algae and worn thin from waves. more...... Stalking Mr. Right: A How-To by Amy Krug (2003) Everyone wants love; that’s no secret. The problem, of course, is finding the right person to share your home and your secret Richard Simmons obsession. Sometimes, though, in the supreme injustice that is life, you DO find Mr. Right–but he tells you he’s married, gay, infected with a pesky VD, or not interested. Take heart–this does not mean that forging a meaningful emotional connection is impossible. Consider stalking him! more...... All Your Horses Someday by Jennifer Lewis (2003) It is the day after Christmas and I think we might be moving. I'm playing in my toy closet while Mama takes down the tree. When I bring my new dinosaurs out to play in the living room, the tree is all gone and mama yells at me, "Julian, go back and play in your room! Do I look like I'm trying to get things done out here?" more...... Mulberry Absences by Kamila Shamsie (2003) When you grow up among mangos it's hard to have any regard for the mulberry. I speak from experience, of course. For the first twenty years of my life I don't think I ever stopped to consider a mulberry for any longer than the time needed to transport it from plate to palate, and in its absence I certainly never missed it the way I miss mangos when summer is over. more...... |
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