Feminist author and science educator. Midwest, middle-aged, growing midsection, but definitely NOT middle of the road.
Stories
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Why Teachers Need Summer Vacation
She shuffled through the papers, picking up each one and weighing it’s potential. Like a field sparrow testing a crust of bread to determine whether or not it was worth trying to carry it off, she carefully placed each one back into the “in...
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Contact
The phone on the other end rang three times. “Don’t go to voicemail. I thought you would be up by now.” Leslie fumbled with her list of contacts as she waited for her sister to pick up the phone. “Hello?” “Oh, hey si...
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A Little Night Music
It’s quiet, too quiet. There is silence enough to hear the blood pushing through my veins, the wind rushing past my ears. The night is dark, so very dark. There is no reference mark or post where I can find the scent of home or the light that brings ...
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Harvest
She was heading north on the unlined country road. A cold rain storm was coming out of the west and she was a good four miles from the safety of her driveway. She didn’t ride her bike in November very often- when skies grew dark soon after the fi...
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Ode to Sue Sylvester
LL- Kay! and I’m rockin’ like a Cool Kat. I don’t bust it ‘bout the hate and the rat-a-tat. LUV! is the message that I’m bringin’ you. Today I wanna pledge my luv to my girl, Sue. CHEER! ‘cuz I used to coach the pom poms. QUEER! ‘cu...
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Perfect
Thought Bill woulda killed, but my metre hid a defect. So I’m trying comedic timing in an effort to move foreward. If my offering falls short of something that is perfect then a pox upon the screen and I’m gonna blame the keyboard. Before t...
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Sonnet for the Moment
Vulcan raged in the Vikings’ realm to grasp at Thor’s almighty bolt. The lava formed a fiery gem, to lay before the gods at court. The ash rose like a billowed stair on which to climb a threatened sky. It tainted even Berenice’s Hair ...
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In Memory of Dr Forsyth
Dr. Jane L. Forsyth finished brushing back her long, white hair. Her striking blue-grey eyes emerged from paper-thin crevasses that told a tale of Antarctic explorations. Women her age delighted in calico quilts covered in calico cats. While teaching g...
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Already Jealous
Jealousy isn’t a force outside of us, but rather, present in our flesh like cancer waiting for our surroundings to trigger it.
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The Dogwood Also Rises
I love to stand on a path in the woodlands in early March and look closely. As I cast my gaze out at the barren trees and the verdant pines, I find the ghostly dogwood trees staring back. They are dwarfed by the full-grown trees surrounding them. They ...
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Writing Country Western Music for Dummies
My father, the truck driver, wrote country western songs for decades. He used to say, “Every gas station attendant in Nashville has written a country western song, honey.” Which brings us to the first rule: find a dead end job where you can...
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Space Station Alpha Flies Over
As Jeopardy! begins for three I have but nineteen minutes before I rush to look above, and see what the sky has in it. A star that glides from West to North as my chin reaches higher. She cannot see my house, nor me, but I can see her fire. She wafts o...
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My Longest Relationship
My marriage lasted 11 years. He was a tall, brooding Irish writer and I compeated for the computer to write my own stuff. We even tried writing together. Then I realized he had the wrong “stuff” for me. I was with my first partner for 4 and...
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Apostle's Creed
“What is the petial light?” I asked Grandma as we stood over my father’s grave and prayed. The twisted cedar tree seemed to lean closer. Surely it wondered the same thing. Grandma made the sign-of-the-cross and saved my eternal soul from the damn...
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Gehen Sie!
She walked through the courtyard with determination and purpose in her step. Her green eyes had searched for the sword, and under the moon’s misty glow, she could finally see it. It was flanked by 2 older women, nuns from the reclusive order who ...
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Donner and Blitzen and the Summer Immigrants
The dragonfly and firefly hovered over a rose. “Right there! Do you smell it now?” Donner asked Blitzen. “It’s insecticide! She found one of those Dog-gone . . .” “Now, Donner, you know how I feel when you take the n...
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Bobby Burns Did It
I have participated in a number of challenges since joining last August – 36 to be exact. I have always read with interest what inspires the challenge. There have been literary challenges such as Shakespeare, word and phrase lists, random book pa...
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She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother
Monica had been battling cancer and every member of the family was helping this 15 year old girl in the struggle for her life. The musicians in the family were playing. There were raffles and silent auctions. Restaurants brought food. I was serving piz...
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The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
You, I am looking at you. Yes, the “learned” Cornaro men sitting there as if my ordeal is played out for your pleasure. We have a name for men who watch while others are pierced and penetrated. No, it’s not “witnesses” it&...
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Hit My Mark
Shakespeare in the park can be brutal. I have appeared in King Lear with tornado sirens blaring and The Tempest in a cold snap wearing only tights and a smile. I have been bitten by mosquitoes during twelve Twelfth Nights and endured wandering alcoholi...
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Lost in a Found Place
Cheerful scientist outside, struggling artist inside. ()()()<>()()()<>()()()<>()()()
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How to Wrestle the Virgin Mary and Win
Laurie didn’t blame the Blessed Virgin. It wasn’t her fault that Billy had died so young or that January had brought heavy rains into the family cemetery to topple the monument. 200 lbs of sculpted cement lay atop Billy, Dad, and Grandpa No...
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A Pair of Docs Walk Into a Bar
Brandon grabbed the clip away from Taz. “Dude, you’re like, time out, you’re hoarding!” Taz pulled up the rim of his hat and looked at Brandon. “Bran, man, I wouldn’t hog the nice. You’re like my bro, Bro.̶...
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A Balloon Came Down
I am the Amazon beneath these curtains. Disregard everything in front. I am gigantic and horrible- all 150 inches of me. Just ask those kids. I am a lunatic magician, a no-nonsense woman with an opinion on popularity. I am queer. I am resolved to trust...
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Just Enough for 2010
This is my 49th published story on ficly and I am 49. I have managed to accomplish one goal before the year ended. For that, and other things, I am thankful. 1. I am thankful that I will not see any more of those funky New Years glasses with an “...
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The Cellist of Sarajevo
The crater was not so large that he couldn’t climb in. It was not so small that he couldn’t fit. The blast had been just large enough to lift 22 of his neighbors, his countrymen, heavenward. The promise of bread had brought them there. The ...
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Libra? a Little Justice, Please
Andromeda is chained to a chair! What have you been smoking? I know that’s what they taught you in school, and I shouldn’t hold it against you but I, Cassiopeia, would like to set the record straight. I am not now, nor have I ever been, boa...
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If the SyFy Channel Did "A Christmas Carol"
“Cameron!” A leather-clad figure stepped forward. He was missing a hand and his face was half-gone, but Cameron recognized the ancient Terminator. “Cameron, I hev come back to Cahleeforniya to varn you. Dees chains are my burden. I carry dem fore...
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It Came Upon a Blank Space
It came below a screen door clear. That glorious print of old, from journalist toiling into the night in prints italic and bold. “Peace on the Earth” the headline read, and many more wished it were true. Now spread our words on the Internet...
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Christmas of '78
Foreigner’s Double Vision was playing on the turntable. I didn’t know the words. The record belonged to my younger, way cooler, sister. She went to see The Scorpions and Boston in arenas and I was a theatre nerd. I knew the words that linke...
