Semi-Daily Scribbles

Skinned Alive

Micah didn't think of himself as a fish out of water. He didn't like the confinement of schools, is all. The more people wandered into his circle, the more Micah felt outside the action, like an observer of an experiment with which he h...

The Moor of the Moors

He's dark-skinned in Wuthering Heights but not in its film adaptations – until now via www.guardian.co.uk I recently had a grand time re-reading Wuthering Heights. About midway through the novel I remembered something about anoth...

Perfectly Sensible Nonsense ~ Making a Difference

Plenty of girls and women think that they need makeup to feel beautiful. They think that without makeup - that if they just look natural - they aren't beautiful. So why don't we change that? We girls are gorgeous; we don't need ma...

He Was Robed

“Thank you for the very nice turnout at this evening’s inaugural installment of The End of the Line’s Writers Series.” The soft-spoken behemoth shoved the hood back from his head, and Zoë’s breath caught in her throat. For all the muscu...

Creepy Crawly

Shawna hated sitting at a desk for nine hours a day. Of course, she got up and moved about, but she had to be mindful of her legs taking over and walking her right out the front door...before the reports were even run! On this pa...

Barefoot

The way we came into the world: barefoot and wailing. Screaming is useful for relieving stress. Shoelessness, our natural state. Oh, but how I miss my young, supple feet! Squeezed and jacked-up over a span of years, each foot conformed...

Reach

The noise, like howling rotor blades, increased as the sun set. Off-hours were intended for nursing pints and pulling words out of the dictionary to make them behave alongside one another. On this night, though, all plans would be put o...

Cultivate

It wasn't the healthiest pastime to cultivate, but Mary developed an obsessive infatuation with the driver of the #63 she rode every day to work. The bus driver's name was Frank Reynolds, and he grew orchids in a hothouse he built in hi...

Mottle

The face in the mirror bewildered Mildred. She was young and lissome only yesterday. It was just yesterday honeysuckle perfumed the air, and Mildred picked peaches for a cobbler. She promised Jack Montgomery she'd bring her cobbler to t...

Blurriness

Pay attention to the blurriness that poses as windblown litter. Leaves kick up a fuss but there's a familiar hand behind it all. This time of year is thin and wispy, the perfect conditions for old friends to drop by. They may sit quietl...