Fiction

“Are you aware that your shoes don’t match?” Nora’s boss, Howard, greets her with an amused regard after she enters his office. She laughs along with him, even though he…

Dr. Paula suggested devising a family ritual as a way to create more intimacy in their relationship. An “emotional bridge” she had called it. A “family building block.” Lane had…

My friend is in the living room, crying. The more she cries, the worse I feel about almost not letting her in. If the baby wasn’t crying, screaming, really, I…

You must do it alone. No one will tell you this. Instead, strangers in shopping malls will place their hands over the hard stem of your belly. Act as if…

I call my exotic sister Phyllis from the faculty lunch room at 10:30 Los Angeles time — prime rates. That means it’s 7:30 P.M. in Paris, and I can catch…

To her distress, Lanier seems destined to produce only sons. She has now officially confirmed her fourth pregnancy, as if she needed any further confirmation than her sudden inability to…

My son Jordan held the metal paint can above his head. That was my father, his ashes in the paint. “You’re never going to finish this,” Jordan said. “I know…

“Put it in gear,” Paul yelled from the rear of the car. “I’m trying,” Missy called back, over the noisy rattle of the engine. Her hands began to sweat; she…

The day Jessica drew blood, I decided it was time to quit breastfeeding. She had tried a few tentative nibbles before, but now her lower teeth were through, and this…

Jelly smears across your cheek. The couch is a good place to wipe your nose. You won’t wear anything but sweatpants. You’re a big boy. Everyone says this about you…

“Howard Hughes is dead, Ma,” I tell her for the third time today. “I know you’re mad he sold the airline, but he got his just desserts — he died.”…