Goodbye, Sylvia

When we came back down the stairs, we heard loud voices and stopped to make faces at each other. Down in the living room, Harry and Sylvia were continuing their argument from the dance floor. Harry was talking about my dad. “He was such a loving person, you destroyed him, and then you moved on to his daughter, to crush her, too.” Sylvia spat, “You’re just jealous I married him, aren’t you?” Harry sat down heavily. “I can’t deny that.” “Hah!” Sylvia cried. “You know I really loved him,” Harry sighed. “I loved them both. They loved me, too.” Sylvia...

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Who Was That Girl?

Passing Debra’s room, we heard the sounds of sobs. I knocked and twisted the knob. “Juicy” and “Pink” were spelled across the the bed. The sisters sat up and Debra said, “You can come in.” “I wanted to say goodbye, you guys,” I said. “Goodbye?” “You can’t go!” That felt really nice. It could have gone the other way. “Harry asked me to come live with him,” I said. “Oh, my, God,” said Donna. “He’s my godfather,” I said, not wanting to elaborate. “Is...

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My Stiff Upper Lip

“This is where you live?” Jeff had to duck to come through the small arched attic door. “Not anymore, I guess,” I said, surveying the room. Dust motes twinkled in the stillness of the late spring sunlight streaming in through the small open window, which had crawled like a slow spotlight since I’d awakened down the length of my unmade bed, and was now touching the stack of cardboard boxes, stacked furniture, old trunks and suitcases. I pulled a suitcase out and dumped my old baby clothes onto the bed, then started scooping things up and putting...

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Free to Be

Moments ago the mood in this room had been delightful; now, waves of crazy were emanating from the corner desk and no one was speaking. I started cleaning up. Jeff studied the paper. “Photo source: Justin Case,” he read, “wait – he’s a private detective! My dad knows him! Now he’s selling photos to the paper?” “I sold the photo,” said Sylvia. “To pay for his services.” “That’s unethical!” “Well at least I gave him a photo credit,” she retorted. “Besides, what would I know about ethics? I never went to college. I’m not the one with the law degree,”...

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