The Arch My name is Will Mercer. I’m thirty-two now. But I was thirty-one when my little sister told me I wasn’t good enough to attend the wedding I’d helped […]
Cleaner The porch light was on. I stood on the bottom step of my son’s house in Boulder, Colorado, and looked at that light for a long time. It was […]
The Price of Parts I hung my work apron on the hook beside the back door. It was the same hook it had hung on for six years. Brown canvas. […]
Stop Work Authority Part 1: Twenty-Eight Days Twenty-eight days on. Twenty-eight days off. That’s the life of an offshore rig worker. You fly out by helicopter from the heliport in […]
Twenty-six years had passed since my son died, but September 30 still had a way of making the air feel heavier. I’d learned how to live around the date. You […]
I was thirteen years old the day my father threw my duffel bag into the dirt and told me to walk home. It was August, and it was hot enough […]
“Maybe take the hint.” The restaurant manager said it quietly. He leaned toward me like he was doing me a favor. Over his shoulder, I could see a bunch of […]
I was thirty years old when I lost the ability to walk. Three years later, I went on my first date. She took one look at me, gasped “Oh my […]
“Room six,” my daughter-in-law said. She held the last brass key up so the wooden tag swung back and forth in the firelight. Then she turned to me and smiled. […]
The spit hit my cheek before I understood what was happening. Warm. Wet. It slid slowly down the side of my face toward my jaw. I stood frozen in my […]