She peered over her laptop screen, wishing that during her youth she had plucked her eyebrows into a thin line like her mother's - they always managed to make her look more stern than she every really was.
Right now, she would have given anything to be able to pull that off.
Somehow she'd managed to get the class quiet and at least convinced them into acting as though they were doing their work. But it had been a hard battle.
It wasn't that she viewed her entire career as a teacher as a war, just this class, and a...
Chazz sat back after moving off a ways. He wanted to see the reaction. It wasn't going to be easy for the old man. Chazz had a picture in his house of his granparents sitting together on the beach. Most beach chairs were low to the ground, these weren't, these afforded old folks a short trip to vertical. The women weren't memborable, but the men were. Both we wearing white undershirts, one V-neck the other not, black shorts with gold clasp belt buckles, and black dress sock up to their knees. The old man was dressed the same way.
He...
Everything was going according to plan until that Saturday morning.
Birds chirped and the sun gleamed and glistened over the water. Laura had been in love with the same guy since her middle school years. His name was Joe-a funny, outgoing, loving, handsome, man. It was her senior year in high school when she found out that she would be the mother of his child. And until this Saturday morning, he had said that he loved her and that he would never leave her side.
The ultrasound appointment came, which he agreed to join her in, that morning at 8...
I rarely watch the news.
Except for that one time when I did turn on the news to catch breathless commentary of the desk crew as the news chopper puttered over the train tracks and there was a man standing on the tracks. The man wore black, his face draped in black and he held a sword in his hand--oh not just a sword, he had one of those Samurai Katanas aloft.
At least I think it was a Samurai Katana, my only experience with those was what I saw on "Kill Bill" and the katana letter opener I had...
I'm dead. Really dead. Not in the "there'll be a twist at the end and I'll be saved" kind of way. Just dead.
I'm not truly Welsh of course, being that my Great Grandfather's Mother's second husband was from Scotland. A secret shame that the Family has bourn quite well, considering. When questioned over my flame coloured Ginger hair, relatives successfully hinted at the local milk delivery representative as explanation. An obvious solution, except for the fact that her hair was clearly and obviously dyed, but there you go.
So, our family are what Cwm-yn-Canu locals would call "incomers", not...
Dolly told me about the swimming pool in Mr. Sakimoto's bonsai garden. The water was warm, she said, no matter what time of year. Also we could pee in it. Mr. Sakimoto didn't mind. In fact, it was expected.
We went after school that one day in February. I'd bought a special bathing suit just for the occasion. It was a Speedo. Yellow. With Scooby Doo on the crotch. Dolly didn't like it, but she wasn't my girlfriend, so it didn't matter.
We arrived at 3 a.m. (The bus broke down so we had to walk.) By that time, we...
It was warm and dark, inside the riduculously large cave. I looked at huge stalagmites jutting up from the floor like spears. I saw a man, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cave, a fire burning beside him. I smelled something I couldn't quite place, something delicious. "Hello. What brings you to the cave of the shaman?" he said, waving me closer. I took a single micro-step forward, puzzled by this strange hermit. "I'm here for the Meaning of Life. I was told that you held it here." i said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Yes. But first,...
He had crossed the crunchy yard to the Cathedral many times, and he proceeded as usual without thinking too much about the crossing. He didn't really hear the crunch of his boots on the blue metal surface. He didn't really see the wattle beginning to bloom. He didn't really smell the sweet air of spring. Bishop Smith was worried: someone was stealing the sacred host from the ciborium.
It puzzled him. Would anyone in the 21st century really steal the consecrated host for black magic? No one could possibly want the bread to satisfy hunger: the wafers were thin and...
The disco ball was turning. Just in case there were any senses left unassailed, it was supported by several lasers and flashing coloured lights. The year 1-5 annual childrens Halloween Party was, to a Pagan, rather like finding yourself in a hall full of Jesus and Mohammeds running around with joke crosses and inflatable flashing Qurans celebrating how fun crucifixion is. Most of the parents, whom if they were seasoned veterans had preemptively dosed themselves with migraine pills already, had no real concern over the witches, ghosts, mummies and (for god sake!) Spidermen and other assorted superheroes had ANYTHING to...
"You did not eat the cake?" Pog levelled her gaze on her husband. "But you proposed to me that very day."
"And you have thought all these years that I was only with you because of a silly spell?" Will laughed.
Meg cleared her throat. "Happen I am still here tha know. They are very good spells, but in truth they only really give you the love you deserve. Always a cost to these things… Beyond the silver, that is." The old woman eyed the young maid conspiratorially.
"A lesson that is not mine to teach, but one you should...