Molly sometimes wondered if the other carousel horses became jealous. She hoped not. It wasn't that the prancing, cream-coloured pony with the brown mane was so much her favourite as it was that the rest did not belong to her. Of course, it didn't really belong to...
Dan pulled into the driveway and noted every light was on in the house. Not surprising. Cathy never turned out a light. 'Whoa,' he thought as he glanced at the dashboard clock. 3:30 a.m. Where did the time go? But then, what difference would it make? She'd be sleeping...
Dark, liquid amber. Amber preserves, they say. Insects trapped in the viscous ooze, captured by a twist of fate that impelled them to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They fight it. Do they understand, know that time has run out? The resin engulfs them,...
I'm not usually the sort of person who indulges in quiet reflection, but when I do it often occurs to me that whether He, She, or It is referred to as Fate, the Good Lord, Providence, or however else you wish to designate the concept of a universal, omnipotent...
She's a pretty little girl, he thought. Dark, dark hair, and clear, liquid-blue eyes. And such a lovely voice. What was she reading, Frost …? "Home is the place, that when you have to go there, they have to take you in." Yeah, Frost. Where'd she find that? Must have...
Sean Donovan stared into Katie O'Sweeney's coffin and caught his breath. There was that smile; that teasing, enigmatic, coy little turn of her lips. A swelling of longing and grief rose in his chest and threatened to pour out his eyes. Holding his emotions in check as...
Jerry was drunk the first time he told me the story. In fact, he's been drunk every time he's retold it, but the first time still lingers for me in my mind. He was drunk that night, too, that night in the summer of 1944. Mickey Mouse was still selling War Bonds and...
What a silly goddamned place this was. Maybe he'd have enjoyed it in his twenties when he was pretty goddamned silly himself. But for now he couldn't wait to hop on the plane and go home. He looked out the window at the spectacle, faux pyramids and sphinx, the phony...
"Will, you enjoy coming to see me about as much as I enjoy snapping on a rubber glove and sticking my finger up your ass." "It's a hell of a way to make a living, Doc, but you chose your own profession." Doc Raines frowned and glared over his wire rims at me. "What...
It was the absence of things that struck me. The front door had closed behind me and then—nothing. No warm kitchen aromas. No "Hi, honey" from Karen. No explosions or gunfire from Caleb's video games. I stood perfectly still. "Karen? Are you home? Caleb?" The silence...