January 29, 2024
Amelia clearly came from a family with a soul, which went a long way to explaining her qualities, abundant and estimable as they were. The Shuter St. building was called “Amelia’s Place.”
January 26, 2024
At the front desk I asked the concierge if she had seen Amelia. The concierge furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes. “Amelia? Amelia? I don’t recall anyone named Amelia.” The concierge must have been new, to not know Amelia, although I could have sworn she was an old hand. “What’s the full name?”
January 23, 2024
On my way, I thought I heard them talking about me. As I neared the table they stopped talking. Zoey looked guilty. Zoey always looked guilty. When I sat down they stared at me with – oh, I don’t know – sorrow, pity: something like that. In response I opened my hands palms up, and said, “What?” as I looked from one to the other.
January 17, 2024
But the highlight of the event was the momentous meeting between Luna Lyngdoh and Meban Tsangpa, a Samanera or novice monk. A woke, computer-trained graduate, he had been inducted into the monastery as a trainee. He followed many of the cardinal religious precepts but had not yet attained higher ordination which would make him a Bhikkhu or a full-fledged monk.
January 16, 2024
Meghalaya in monsoon — the perfect time to explore and embrace the beauty of the Sacred Woods. Luna smiled to herself as she recalled this much-loved refrain from her days of childhood and youth. She walked past the moss-slickened stones, boulders flecked with the chartreuse lichen, stopping to admire the white coral mushrooms that were so famous here.
January 13, 2024
I couldn’t understand why you kept calling our parents, the phone ringing repeatedly before Dad silenced it. “He wants money,” Dad whispered knowingly to Mom. I was too young to understand that you’d done this all before: drunk texts and calls, expectations of payment, always late at night.
January 6, 2024
She rummaged through his coat pockets for a flask. He had, after all, the day before sworn off liquor, having literally gambled the shirt off his back in some bar’s backroom.
January 1, 2024
One weekend on Chinese New Year, we gathered in Trafalgar Square for the performance of the lion dance. Amid the throngs of people, we cheered and clapped for the dancers. We swayed to the traditional music.
December 24, 2023
Mrs. Santa settled in a comfy tea chair.
Arranged her red dress and tidied her hair.
“Tell Mrs. Santa what you want to receive.
I will make sure Santa knows to put it on the sleigh before he leaves.”
December 22, 2023
Something was amiss in the kingdom but she didn’t know what it was or why she felt this way. But there it sat in the back of her head, a tiny pin prick of suspicion. Unlike her mother-in-law, the princess was an orphan so she had no parents to escape to.
December 12, 2023
Our bedroom walls were shiny with posters of boy-band chests and bad-boy grins hiding unicorns and floral wallpaper. Our mothers fought us, our little sisters wanted to be us, our fathers avoided us.
December 10, 2023
As a thank you for the work, I brought you a gift.” From the little pocket of his work suit, he took out the book that increased the visual centimeters around his stomach. “While I was fixing the plumbing problems upstairs, the door at the bottom of the hall was open so I could see the many bookshelves you have there. I hope this novel adds to your already rich collection of covers and stacks of papers you keep in the room upstairs.”