With summer came the two things Robbie feared the most: baseball and polio. He hit like a girl, ran like a duck. On his watch, fly balls disappeared in the sun. Grounders bounced tauntingly between his legs. He prayed, not… Read more ›
From early on I dreamt of flight. By day I was a puny schoolboy, by night a man of steel, cape billowing in full sail, ears ringing with the wind as I soared over toy cars and houses and stores.… Read more ›
My daughter felt the first labor pangs as she dribbled a shovelful of dirt on her mother’s grave. In the still small hours Jonah was born_ and eight days later we prepared for the bris, shaking out the crumbs of… Read more ›
the evening of my date with luscious Gail the zit on the tip of my huge Shylock schnoz exploded like the cream-filled center of a Barricini chocolate and left an angry slash across my face that was Rudolph writ… Read more ›
Manuelito, Manuelito, you love the ladies and they love you too no hay nada they wouldn’t do like the pretty girls who slither down the poles like snakes at Angelita’s, come over to your table, rub their breasts against your… Read more ›
It could have been the war or his impoverished youth but for Dad it was a mortal sin to pay list price, worse than marrying out of the faith or eating in front of the shul on Yom Kippur. He… Read more ›
My name is Chaim. It means life. Everyone who drinks makes toasts to me but take my word for it my life has been no picnic, and if it were, God would send a horde of ants as guests. I… Read more ›
To say that Carla had problems with men Was like saying the Sahara Was a tad bit dry. She made light of them herself, But the wounds ran deep. She wore them like a second skin, Numbing them now and… Read more ›
Happy Birthday indeed. Old men like me are the last leaves clinging to the tree. One waft of God’s breath and we’re gone. After that? Who knows? I hope there’s plenty booze and fine young women. You were almost… Read more ›
She was pleased he’d brought her favorite flower, tulips. She held them like a reigning monarch and pecked him on both cheeks. He searched for traces of her former beauty and found them only in her steel-grey eyes. She’d noticed… Read more ›