It’s a strange feeling—going back to a place after not being there for a long time. Sometimes, the place has changed. Sometimes, you’ve changed. Sometimes, it’s a little of both. It feels like you’re meeting a stranger, but somehow it’s a stranger you’ve known for a very long time. That’s how I felt last May,Continue reading “Ode to a Small Yellow House”
Tag Archives: storytelling
A Spy’s Warning for Pearl Harbor
J. Edgar Hoover’s face is grim as he braces himself for his next meeting. He knows all about the despicable man about to enter the office and he’s fully prepared to put him in his place. Dušan, or Duško as he is known, is a spy. And he’s not just any spy. Duško Popov isContinue reading “A Spy’s Warning for Pearl Harbor”
Why Bats Live in Caves
Diplomatic relations have always been strained between the animals and the birds. They claim friendship, united by their shared fear of humans and hatred of reptiles, but it is an uneasy peace. From time to time, their animosity erupts into full-out war. One day, the fable is told, many years ago in a forest farContinue reading “Why Bats Live in Caves”
Peanut Butter on Trial
In Room 5131 of the Health, Education, and Welfare Building in Washington D.C. sit two groups. On one side, a group of slick corporate lawyers. On the other side, the FDA. At their side, a woman named Ruth Desmond, a woman who will come to be known as the “peanut butter grandma”.
A Fine Time to Buy a House
It’s the fall of 2020. Everything is shut down. Everyone is wearing a mask, and yet here we are, my wife and I, walking into another stranger’s house. But we’re not here to make friends… or enemies. We’re house hunting. And I can’t imagine a worse time to buy a house. Not only is everythingContinue reading “A Fine Time to Buy a House”
A Dark Pit in the Jungle
Concealed, Ko Dwah peers through the foliage at the strange scene before him. An abandoned pagoda stands in a small clearing, half-swallowed by the jungle. Next to the pagoda, a man is seated, reading a book. As Ko Dwah watches, the man rises, tucks the book under his arm, and begins to pace back andContinue reading “A Dark Pit in the Jungle”
Dirty Hands, Clean Heart
Excitement in Jerusalem is at a historic high. Things haven’t been this exciting since the reign of Solomon. People from all over the nation of Judah are gathered, full of anticipation, ready for the festivities to begin. Then, into the city, here they come—unexpected guests. Unexpected, at least, to the majority of the Jews. There’sContinue reading “Dirty Hands, Clean Heart”
Rules for a Tea Party
Curious onlookers stare out at the strange group of characters gathering on the wharf. It’s not clear quite how many there are, but it looks to be close to a hundred and more are still arriving. They wear cloaks, or blankets, or tattered clothes and they have coal dust smudged on their faces. In theirContinue reading “Rules for a Tea Party”
A Song for the Ski Slopes
Here I am at the top of the mountain about to tip myself off the edge. You’d have to be insane to attempt what I’m about to do. But here we go. I’m steeling my nerves, pushing off with my ski poles, and facing my destiny. I may not come out of this alive, butContinue reading “A Song for the Ski Slopes”
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Fairies
Reluctantly, Arthur Wright hands over his brand new camera to his 16-year-old daughter. It’s a Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1917 and Arthur’s daughter Elsie insists that she and her young cousin Frances simply must have the camera. Arthur entrusts them with the camera and one photographic plate—all the girls will need to takeContinue reading “Arthur Conan Doyle’s Fairies”
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