Posts Tagged ‘canadiana’
The Boys
“Why aren’t you two sleeping?” “We are.” “No, you aren’t. I can hear you goofing around up there. Don’t you lie to me.” “We’re not mom. We’re just getting ready. William has to brush his teeth.” “Go. To. Bed.” William and his adopted cousin William sit still on the floor of their bedroom and watch…
Read MoreA Story From a Friend, millionth draft
The skin between my toes has disintegrated, raw and stinging as sweat and miles of movement rub them against one another. The cold too, the cold doesn’t help. Running through the snow is slow and as it continues to fall so the slowness will grow. But this can’t wait so I hurry. When Jim first…
Read MoreIn the Morning
Billy opened the sliding screen door and the young dog bolted out and turned and stood waiting. The old dog was the one Billy had on a leash so that it’s knee could heal, and they stepped gingerly out of the door and onto the earth and started walking around the house and up into…
Read MoreA Half Full Moon
The boys stood in the clearing behind the house before the first trees of the forest, a darkening sky above. Wow, that moon is exactly half a sphere! Half a circle. What? It’s a circle. What you can see is a circle, and only half of it. A sphere is an orb, like a ball.…
Read MoreBilly and Jim and You and Me
I’ve been asked on occasion who Billy and Jim are. It’s clear to most that there are elements of myself in both characters, but in my own mind, I am Billy. I’ve always been Billy. Who Jim is remains a mystery to me. I’ve written for years about the both of them, using their beings…
Read MoreThe Winds Whispering Among the Trees
“Fucking winter.” Billy spat. “Fuck you.” With every footfall his boots slipped in the snow. He was walking up the hill behind the house with the snow falling even now in the late days of February. “Fuck you.” Billy said to himself. “I hate you,” he said to himself. He stopped to catch his breath.…
Read MoreThree Days Past Full
The moon was three days past full, and Billy used its light in the darkness of the night to navigate to the wood pile in the snow. The snow was fresh but wet, and under the great pine trees it had frozen a thin crust which Billy broke through with his boots, down the hill…
Read MoreAutumn, deep into it
Autumn, and deep into it. Glowing leaves in an absence of light, yellows to envy and a green so lime and bright, so tucked in, a little bit of sheen against the dark richness of the surrounding pines. Deep into autumn, long past the careening energy of summer, the hustle and bustle, the dragging of…
Read MoreStories in the Hills
Billy had long ago feared that the stories were over, that the well had run dry, that among the trying and challenge of the world his role in it had been engulfed by a feverish pace. And then in the evening with the setting sun made more orange by the wildfire haze, he was walking…
Read MoreIn a March of Snows
Towards the end of February the clouds began to break and it started to look like winter would begin to wane, but at the end of the month the clouds came back and it started to snow heavily again. In March the snows continued and each morning was grey and white except for the forests…
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