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Last time
Her father came into her room for the last time. Charlotte filled a tin with crackers, stuffed her sister’s ragdoll, Lady Wintermere, down her underpants, and walked away from the house without…
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Cleaning house
Her pregnancy test was positive, but he drew the line. He would not go back east. “And give up all this?” he shouted as they stacked their stuff in piles outside for…
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First date
His nostrils froze the moment he left his mother’s, and discovered her neighbor with a red hat and red nose stuck halfway into the road. “I don’t own a shovel anymore,” his…
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One snowy Saturday
It was that kind of afternoon. Paul rolled out his dirty jokes to offend Eli, who played indignation with panache. Albert edged each sidewalk, and Harry finished with the broom. He took…
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Addie
Born the last of ten, Addie is the sixth to survive. Married at 17, she will miscarry five times. A travelling salesman steals her heart and she runs away to Toronto. They…
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Little Joe
He came with a hefty price-tag, a pup bought as a breeding dog for $1200. Time passed and the little guy only dropped one, a red flag for future litters. He was surrendered to…
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Role model
The little girls look up to her, and her talent. She knew how to sit quietly, patiently, for the time it took Mum to make up her eyes, like Elsa’s from Frozen. She stood…
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Hollow hopes
To her, everything seemed possible that day. Optimism glowed in her eyes, and when she left the shop, the owner felt more positive about young people than he had in a long…
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New job
Her mom’s is in a nursing home and nobody has the money. Eileen’s been out of work for two years, but Jana found her a job. It’s some paper boxes place out…
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Solid
She is top in her class, and gets guff about it from the other kids, but she ignores them. She runs faster than the fastest boy. Her last hardest time was when…
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Throw the logic out with the bathwater
Why does anybody really think more guns will mean fewer deaths? I mean, really. More cars mean more accidents, more mouths to feed mean more expense, more cats mean more cat hair.…
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Biography
Born at the wrong time. Her father was last hired, first fired. Her mother was flattened by postpartum depression. They found their feet when she learned to walk. Later, she bought her…
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Runaway
For a few minutes, the vaulted ceiling of the station, the kind light, made her feel everything would be all right. If she made it to DC, her grandmother would be happy…
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Old friends
“Where is the bus?” Rita said. Anya was busy studying the new iPad her son had bought her for her birthday. The internet eluded her, but she could play a few of…
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Gaze of love
All Johann could think about was that wink he got from Sally, the coolest turtle on the rock. Last week, he had ventured all the way across the pond and into the…
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