Costco has a new rule that you need a wholesale membership to get into the warehouse at 9:00 a.m. It started a couple weeks ago, so the place was mostly me and the employees as they finished stocking the shelves. Today I was parked out front at 8:47, in the warehouse three minutes later, and… Continue reading Long Tuesday
Feeling Better
(re-run) I have some down days once in a while, but mostly I don’t. I know I’m lucky. I have aligned my life to feel better. Coincidentally, a relative’s therapist told her the five things she needs every day to get out of her funk. Nature – I grew up outside in Iowa. As kids,… Continue reading Feeling Better
Piglet in a Box
(re-run) Karin was working, cutting her stepsister’s hair at the salon her mom owned. Her cell phone vibrated. She never took calls during work. All of her friends and family knew that. It vibrated again, a second call from the same number. She picked up. It was her ex boyfriend, Rob. Rob was two ex-boyfriends… Continue reading Piglet in a Box
Give Me Back my Sweater!
(re-run) Once divorced, I discovered dancing in nightclubs, some of them outside with trees and twinkling lights. Barone’s in Pleasanton had live music every Thursday, from May to October. The October nights were cool, with the sun setting at 6:30 or so. I put on my short dancing dress, went bare legged, with sandals on… Continue reading Give Me Back my Sweater!
Parking Lot Pick-up
(re-run) Edith and her friend, Laura, were bored. It was Saturday night, and they’d been at their all-girls’ school, Holy Names, for a whole week. It was time to find some guys, to find a party. They pulled into Berkeley and headed for Fraternity Row. Laura spotted someone she had dated before and rolled down… Continue reading Parking Lot Pick-up
A Corny Tale
(re-run) Knee -high by the 4th of July It all started with a post on Facebook, showing how your average American doesn’t know how to shuck corn. If you are from Iowa in the 60’s, then you know how. We weren’t well off. As a matter of fact, people would give us bags of food,… Continue reading A Corny Tale
Apple Tree
(re-run) You know it’s apple-picking season when the dogs start bringing in the bruised ones and then growl at each other. When I bought the house, I inherited the apple tree. I didn’t realize how prolific it was until one day, after the gardeners left, I noticed a line of fat apples sitting on my… Continue reading Apple Tree
Ruthie Ann’s Designing Man
(re-run) Ruthie Ann worked as a graphic designer in Cortez, Colorado. She met an architect named Edmond through her position on the design review board. He was about twenty years older but smart and distinguished looking with his gray hair and eyes. She liked the work he’d done around the Durango train station. Edmond asked… Continue reading Ruthie Ann’s Designing Man
The Friend Date
(re-run) He said he had a girlfriend but that she didn’t like to dance. Here he was, out dancing again. He loved to talk up a good game with the ladies, but would he ever act on it? He’d been with the same woman for over twenty years. He had insisted that I take his… Continue reading The Friend Date
Kuma, the Teddy-bear Akita
(re-run) Beth’s husband had two Akita dogs. She wanted to get one for their six-year-old son. She got Lee a puppy and named him Kuma, which is Japanese for Bear. The two older dogs kept attacking the puppy. The marriage wasn’t going well, either. Beth and her son moved out and got their own place… Continue reading Kuma, the Teddy-bear Akita
