Counting the pebbles

You’ve counted the pebbles with me
for as long as I can remember
my tiny frame huddled into a questioning ball
yours strong and reassuring
You’ve pushed me on the swings
till my toes grazed the garden tree
cheering me on silently from the sidelines
assuring I could do it on my own
You’ve explained it all in layman’s terms
said it like it [...]

Read Full Post »

Over the phone line

Her heavy sobs are conveyed muffled and subdued over the static phone line. She tries to conceal them with intermittent coughs and lengthy absences of duty, but her overwhelming sorrow crosses the miles that separate, making itself plain and apparent. The familiar understanding voice she yearns for is there, present, so near she [...]

Read Full Post »

A grotesque friendship IV

It wasn’t until she was twenty that I started to sit up and take notice of the tiny warning-bell incidents that alerted me to the revolutionary proportion of the transformation that she had undergone – the first time she had worked up the courage to stay out partying all night with friends, ignoring the strict [...]

Read Full Post »

A grotesque friendship III

Part I and Part II found below.
I surmise the fire of that sweet-sixteen biking crush was put out by the lack of reciprocity in feelings on the part of the admired. It slowly faded away into oblivion and was soon replaced by more serious, more mature convictions of the heart. She confided in [...]

Read Full Post »