The man is in a crowd of people, and he is given a locker room key. The number on the key is 1065. He enters a locker room—it is the old Carroll High School JV locker room. He walks through the locker room and cannot find his locker. He goes through the freshman locker room.Continue reading “In Ramah, Lamentation”
Tag Archives: Parenting
Put Your Trust in Ice Cream
They are in Corpus Christi to visit, and upon their arrival, Mom declared that she had done no shopping because she didn’t know what they would want since they had a baby now so they would need to go to the store. Fine, no problem. They are now at HEB with Grant in his carContinue reading “Put Your Trust in Ice Cream”
Hello, Dolly
They play it indoors using a small wooden bat and a wrist band as the ball, and they call it wrist band baseball. They used to play it in the living room when they lived in San Antonio. If you hit the wrist band into the lowest basket of the hanging fruit basket, you gotContinue reading “Hello, Dolly”
Yankee Clipper
The man settles into the barber chair for his appointment. Dick is back for the first time in months. Grant is two-and-a-half, and his hair is overgrown. He sits on a chair just across from the barber’s chair, waiting his turn. The door opens, and an old-timer walks in. He sees gray-haired Dick and smiles.Continue reading “Yankee Clipper”
You Got Skunked!
Lucia is almost four and Lindsay is eighteen months. All winter, the scent of skunk has lingered around their yard, and they can’t make out where it is coming from. It is a warm spring day. The girls are in the backyard while Grant is at a summer school activity. Lucia bolts inside and cries,Continue reading “You Got Skunked!”
Hush, My Daddy
The man settles into his place at the table with his plate full of curry chicken atop rice. Grant is five, and he is on his knees on his chair. Rice is already scattered around his plate, and he has knocked the green beans off. Lucia is sitting on a chair next to him. SheContinue reading “Hush, My Daddy”
The Beautiful Game
Soccer is simple for kids, right? Kick the ball into the other team’s goal and stop them from kicking it into yours. So they sign Grant up for soccer at age five. Grant has always been big, and he appears to be seven years old and playing with runts. Which would be to his advantageContinue reading “The Beautiful Game”
I Want You to Be Honest about Something
The man has three distinct scenes in mind before this conversation with Lucia. At age eight, she hit her five-year mark with the local dance company, which meant that she was to receive a five-year award at the spring dance recital. They issued these awards partway through the recital. Each kid’s name was called, andContinue reading “I Want You to Be Honest about Something”
Wicked-Old Boomers
For years, Graham has watched Minecraft videos on YouTube, particularly by Stampie, who has etched out a following in the millions. Graham is eleven now and has begun experimenting with his own content on YouTube. Lauren and the man are working together on dinner in the kitchen. Graham comes in and announces, “There’s a guyContinue reading “Wicked-Old Boomers”
Hostage Rescue
The man’s oldest son has turned twelve, and today is his birthday party. Their new house has more than one hundred acres of woods behind them. They have allowed him to invite a bunch of friends for a party, and Lauren has turned over the activities to the man while she handles food. “Don’t worry,”Continue reading “Hostage Rescue”
His Smile Lit Up a Room and Other Things to Say at My Funeral 