Inspiration

I turned into my parents’ driveway in Maryland and parked the car.  Before I could even step out and close the door, Mom flew out of the backyard, gesturing frantically.
“Your father had a breakdown,” she blurted. “Your brother took him to the hospital.  He’s on the sixth floor.  Go.  Go. You need to go [...]

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The boy’s eyes follow me around the room.
His thinly painted lips purse nary a hint of a smile, only a telling, a knowing far beyond his tender years—or maybe he does know, maybe he knows everything, staring out from the portrait with generations of patterns and sufferings pouring through him.

The mother next to him [...]

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I greeted her in the hallway with a gentle squeeze, that kind of hi-I’m-happy-to-see-you-and-have-no-idea-what-to-say embrace, as if words mattered anyway.
“You know?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “I’ve been praying for you everyday.”
She forced a smile and nodded before she turned into the salon.
When I made the appointment, they asked me at the front desk if I [...]

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“The last year of hard work has finally paid off,” he said. “Your delivery, presence, modulation—all of it work.  I’m proud of you.”
I beamed.
 
“Of course,” he continued. ”This is only regional theatre and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Many speakers make excellent money doing regional theatre.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, sensing a set up.
“Well, [...]

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The boy pushed his way through the brambles and scrambled up the embankment
that led to a bed of rocks.
Into the distance, as far as the eye could see, stretched two rails on top
of treated wood beams.
His favorite place, a place to dream, a place to explore and discover.
He knelt down and placed his ear on [...]

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Big John toiled into the night at his desk in the small cabin he had called home for the past seven months.
“So many reports,” he muttered to himself as he strained his eyes to write, dipping his pen into the ink well again and again.
In war torn 1943, the ship’s captain allowed no lights [...]

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Fred always blurts out the best comebacks.
“How’s your Mom, Fred?” “Dumb as a mule and twice as stubborn.” He delights in the art of cutting others down, without discrimination. When questioned about anything, Fred spews an adverse slant. “How was your weekend, Fred?” “It came after the week, is about all I can say,” he [...]

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“What about me, Daddy?” pleads Linus, age five.
“You’re on this side, son,” I answer, as I open my left arm across the quilt.
On the right, Camille nestles into the crook of my elbow, her tiny body snuggled like a pea in a pod.
Within minutes, they both doze off.
I don’t do so well flat on [...]

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The community rested on 28 acres of manicured lawns and gardens, nary a leaf out of place.
The poet found the perfection unusual, though not lacking in beauty.
He parked his car, crossed the lot and stepped into the foyer, as pristine on the inside as the outer grounds.
“Not bad, eh?” the older gentleman posited after the [...]

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The massive orb dominates the aqua crystalline backdrop of its own making, floods its rays on everything below.
The sky devoid of a single cloud seems as empty as I feel and the beach looks like an arid desert, molded by tireless wind and blazing heat.
I picture myself atop an Arabian camel, parched with thirst, crossing [...]

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