Posts Tagged ‘flash’
A Much Softer Light
Billy woke in the morning and knelt on the cold floor and scratched the skin through the thick fur of the mane of the sitting dog. He looked out the window to the thin crest of light over the shoulder of the mountain, starting orange and rose and fading upward into the dark firmament of…
Read MoreNaramata Road
“I have water for you. There’s a fountain down the road a little.” “Thank you. You’re being very nice.” “It’s the least I can do after trying to steal your bike.” The two men laugh gently. “I’ll never forgive you for that.” “I can live without forgiveness.” They laugh again. Billy and Jim in…
Read MoreThe Small Warmth of the Sun
Billy had gone when the poplars started to bloom, and when they did the last thing he was doing was lying in the winter dead grasses of the hydro cut between the dogs and the dogs laid there with him, Dublin asleep against Billy’s thigh and Maggie at a small distance watching ravens against the…
Read MoreBilly in the Maron Valley, snippet
Melissa smiles and the boy relaxes and he smiles at her too. She puts her hand on the rear railing and swings herself out of the truck to land in the dirt underneath. A little wind whistles through the grasses nearby and Melissa looks toward it, wild oats bending with the breeze and the rigid…
Read MoreWriting
For many of us, when we do something, we want to nail it. The drive towards perfection is a strong one, and we’re conditioned, through things like television and social media, to accept nothing less. So when we write, we write when we feel like we’ve got something really, really important to spill, when we…
Read MoreThe Bunkhouse, An excerpt
There is no wind tonight. The heat from the fire in the woodstove hums through the chimney, air racing into the flue to feed the flames and then racing again, tempered and smoky out of the metal chimney and into the night sky. Tenaya is cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, her night for the…
Read MoreIn the Shadows
In the Peaks of Grassi the elk have been gathered for weeks. They lay in the hydro cut in the cold with the wind coming through Whiteman Pass. When they are still over the night hoarfrost grows white crystals on their fur. And in the night, if the clouds part in the sky and the…
Read MoreShortest Days, Revisited
“This will probably be it for me. I can’t imagine I’ll see another Christmas.” Billy holding the steering wheel of the truck. “How’s that?” “I just don’t expect to be around much longer. Once the thaw is in I’ll be out of here. The old man doesn’t want me around anyway.” It isn’t early in…
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