Archive | February, 2019

When James was in high school, his father had been called up to Iraq from the California National Guard and then returned with a head trauma no one could see but everyone could feel. The painkiller-fueled descent that followed ripped the earth open under James like a gaping mouth and introduced him to an empty space that he thought must be adulthood. His father had left as a mighty pine, […]

A little boy, kneeling on a chair at a kitchen table coloring, asks in accented English, “Where’s Momma? I want to see her. When’s she coming home?” His voice is straightforward, a bit demanding, but no different than any child wanting something missing. The camera brings in his drawing, shows his fingers grasping a crayon. He makes strokes of black, hair surrounding a narrow face. Camera backs to a long […]

A gentle rain was falling, but he hadn’t noticed until he rose with the baby. But then he could hear it, could see it dripping over the leaf-clogged gutters outside the window. Mostly, though, he saw the black night outside. No light at that unholy hour. “You’re wearing out your mother, kid!” His words just above a whisper. “She can’t keep getting up, so you’re stuck with me.” And I’m […]