english

It was bottom of the ninth, two outs, no hits, and the clean-up batter for the opposing team was walking to the plate. The stands were packed with tense, silent faces. I sat clutching my sister and best friends’ hands in either of mine. The women pressed in close to my side on the cold stone...

Great Uncle Albert always was a bit of a recluse. To the rest of the family, he was the eccentric uncle who might show up to ever third Christmas. If he came it was with dozens of well thought out gifts. He was related to my dad's side, but no one ever really knew how. He had just always been...

"You’re telling me I’m broke?!” I was trying to keep calm, but from the nervous glances I got from the man’s secretary, I was failing miserably. “That’s not the term I would use, ma’am,” the accountant said. “But your late husband was over-leveraged, and his assets are barely enough to cover...

I could hear my daughter charging up the stairs. That was not unusual, she charged almost everywhere. She had been out late the night before, her eighteenth birthday, with friends and had been downstairs chatting with Ryan, her father and my husband, while he prepared omelets for breakfast...

I My First Session with Theresa -- Friday Afternoon I reviewed the patient information sheet for the day's final client. It was her first consultation. She was a thirty-six year old accountant who worked at the local firm that did my taxes. Her health was good; she took no medication other...

In retrospect I had no one to blame but myself. I love clothes. I can't remember when I didn't. I wanted to be a designer. Mom thought that impractical and said I should be nurse. After all, Mom suggested, with my looks I could rope-in a doctor husband. Chasing dreams was something rich people...

My decision to attend college and law school at Arizona State University and not in my native Los Angeles was due to several factors. First among them was my love of the desert. I come by it naturally. Mom, her name is Charlotte but she goes by Charlie, grew up in Kuruman, South Africa, which...

I studied myself in the mirror. Sometimes the simplest things are the best things. I was wearing a black tank top, form fitting jeans with a wide belt, and boots with a 3½ inch chunky heel. The tank top was just long enough to reach my jeans. Most any movement revealed a narrow horizontal view...

My parents stopped fighting when I turned sixteen. It's not like they started getting along; they just stopped fighting. They were polite and civil, like business acquaintances who mildly disliked each other but understood decorum would help get them through the day. Over the next two years I...

Before it blew up my life had been comfortable and easy. I lived in Mountain Brook, a tony suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in a big house. I drove an expensive car. I wore beautiful clothes. I entertained extravagantly. My biggest complaint was that I spent too much time car pooling. My name is...