Poor Ol’ Mary Tate

The top drawer of the dresser was half pulled open as I sat silently on the bedroom floor, staring at an old sepia-toned photograph.

When the World Came Knocking

There was a time when a knock at the door meant more than a visitor. It meant another story was about to unfold.

One of Those Rare Saturdays

The sound of a lawnmower pulled me from a deep sleep. I tumbled out of bed in my Star Wars pajamas, Darth Vader plastered across my chest. A pair of curtains hung like guardians over my bed, keeping the boogeyman at bay.

Jai Alai Crazy

“That son of a bitch threw the game! He was winning all night, and then he just let the ball drop. Goddamn it! I knew it was rigged. That would’ve paid $2,100.”

The Old Neighborhood

As I sit here at my desk, window open, listening to the crickets chirp after a late-afternoon downpour, dusk begins to settle over a lazy Sunday. In a moment, I hear the gravel of Cedar Street beneath my feet as I begin walking the old neighborhood again.

Going to Town on Saturday

“Why aren’t you ready?” Mama asked as I walked into the kitchen.

I was dressed in my favorite green-and-white silky Umbro soccer shorts, Adidas tennis shoes, and my favorite Dukes of Hazzard T-shirt.

“I am ready, Mama.”

Plaza San Sebastián

Saturday, September 12, 2026

After a lovely morning at the Santuario de la Virgen del Rocio and the ruins of Ingapirca, we stopped for an extraordinary lunch at a nearby hacienda, Posada Ingapirca. The restored two-hundred-year-old property was something out of a storybook, with white adobe walls and uneven wooden floors.

The Second Ride

There was a crispness in the air that evening in late October. As we stepped off the back porch, Mama wondered aloud, “You think we need to carry a sweater with us?” It was the first change in the weather that we’d felt in a long time.

Alva’s Parlor of Beauty and Oral Literacy

It was an ordinary Friday morning in July. As we made the turn off Grange Hall Loop into the long shell driveway that circled the house, we could already see the cars parked near the side door at Alva’s place.

Crab Shalou

When we opened the back door at 7 am, it felt like opening the oven. Mama had woken me up early so we could take advantage of the incoming tide. Everything was ready on Grandma’s back porch.