“Floor ‘Z,’ please.” The school elevator was packed, but no one spoke. I noticed several kids glancing at me in the reflection from the brass doors. RING! “Excuse me,” I said, squeezing out into the hall. I was the only one. The doors closed and the elevator resumed...
Energy flowed through Michael’s hand, through the torch, into the metal. He didn’t plan in advance what he formed. There was no plan. It was only the desire to begin. Once he did, the forms took a shape of their own. The metal twisted, burned, and bent. Smoke...
“Roll them,” Asha said, setting down a round ball of flour she had kneaded into shape on the smooth marble slab. “Let’s make a circle, like this,” she gently massaged the dough with a rolling pin, Peter’s eyes growing more rounded as the ball of flour spread to the...
The knock on his cabin door broke the mountain silence. He rose from his chair and answered. Four young women stood on the porch. “Our truck broke down,” the tallest one said. “Do you have a phone we could use?” He shook his head. “No phones up here.” “Oh.” The woman...
Berto’s earliest memory was not of a vision but a smell. It came from under the door of the room that he was forbidden to enter. He’d been playing a game with sticks and pebbles on the floor – war, against the Austrians – while his mother simultaneously nursed the...
“That boat’s awfully far out.” We were on the beach, playing one of our games (getting your fir cones into the opposing team’s basket). One of the other boys had stopped and stretched out a scrawny arm to indicate a spot somewhere near the horizon. Shielding our eyes...
