The Warning at O’Hare The fluorescent lights of Chicago O’Hare International Airport cast harsh shadows across my husband’s face as I watched him prepare to board his flight to New […]
The Sunday Reckoning The Sunday family dinner at the Miller estate was usually a rigid, soul-crushing display of social hierarchy, an elaborate performance for an audience of none. Today, the […]
The Scarecrow After delivering triplets, my husband labeled me a “scarecrow” and began cheating with his secretary. He figured I was too shattered to resist. He was mistaken. What followed […]
The Empty Envelope At Thanksgiving dinner, my mother passed out cream-colored envelopes with a sugary smile. “A little bonus for everyone who helps around here,” she announced, handing them out […]
The Golden Truth The Golden Wedding Anniversary of Edward and Martha Langston was the kind of celebration you read about in magazines or see in movies. Held at the elegant […]
The Morning of Judgment My son laid his hands on me inside my own kitchen at three o’clock in the morning, and I didn’t say a single word in response. […]
The Pig in a Ribbon The walk-in closet smelled of cedar, expensive silk, and the lingering, suffocating scent of my own inadequacy. It was larger than most apartments in the […]
The Double Life “I need to ask you something strange.” The voice crackling through my phone speaker was tight, compressed by the unique static of a cockpit radio. It was […]
The Resurrection The ink on the divorce papers was still wet, or perhaps it only felt that way through the hazy, fractured lens of my exhaustion. The nursery was finally […]
