Our intentions were pure. No, really. They were. We left the house at 7:00 AM having mutually agreed that a trip to our gym would be appropriate. At least I think it's still "our" gym, as we haven't been there for, oh, three months or so. Why? I don't know. Anyway... Roughly halfway there, I … Continue reading Things A Mother Never Wants To Hear At 7:30 AM

  Characters will never "breathe" if the writer persists in viewing them as "fictional." Yes, yes, I know, in truth they actually are, but hear me out. For something to "breathe," it must have life, and that which is fictional is, by nature, lifeless. It then follows that if one begins from the point of … Continue reading Breathing Life Into Fictional Characters

“You sure you have everything you need?” It was a question I had asked repeatedly since early that morning when my wife started packing for the long-awaited road trip with two of her high school friends. And of course her frustrated, yet bemused reply was, “Why don’t you get busy on that list of chores … Continue reading Red

Sleepy, silky streams of twilight caressed my face as the first day of summer drew to a close. Given my proximity to Jeremy Freeman—sitting as we were side-by-side on the dock behind my parent’s lakefront cabin—I found it entirely fitting that this was the longest day of the year. Truthfully, I didn’t want it to … Continue reading First Time For Everything

She came off the van looking like she owned the place. Tall, long brown hair, slender of frame, eyes and lips like those belonging to girls one would customarily see gracing the covers of magazines. She could’ve been a model in another life. Unfortunately in this life she was just another case number assigned to … Continue reading Miss Community Service

I was late. Again! Seems these days I’m always late, especially on days when I can least afford it. Like today. I got a text message from my boss late last night—she of the infinite pettiness and deficient humanity—asking me to stop on my way in to work and buy copies of four different newspapers. … Continue reading As You Wish

The rain began ten days ago, and hasn't let up once—not even for a moment. Relentless and unceasing it falls in a seeming attempt to cover the surface of the earth in a deluge of Biblical proportions. My umbrella ceased to function the morning of the third day, which means that I’ve gone eight full … Continue reading Who’ll Stop The Rain

Keep An Eye On Summer The sun had chased the moon from the sky and burned away all but a few silvery wisps of marine layer turning the waters of the Pacific into a deep and beckoning azure. Parked in my 1958 Volkswagen Bug on the bluff overlooking Manresa beach in Santa Cruz I was … Continue reading Snapshots At St. Arbuck’s Vol II PREVIEW

He was a handsome guy, seated a couple of tables away from me at St. Arbuck’s, which, on this mid-summer’s morn, was packed to the walls. He was wearing torn and distressed designer jeans that probably cost as much as a nice watch and an equally distressed, but no less expensive tee shirt. The hair … Continue reading Snapshots At St. Arbuck’s: Distressed