Realistic Stories
BoyfriendEline has serious doubts about inviting her boyfriend over to a family get-together, to the hilarity of her brother.
"In a pleasant house slightly north of Santa Cruz's downtown, grey-walled and rose-gardened, a brother and a sister had their weekly meeting, as well as the discussion they'd had every time they met for the last two months, and would probably continue to have until the family reunion two weeks hence."
Explaining it to the Answering MachineWhat's a guy to do when he really, really didn't mean to hurt anyone? Really.
“Hi honey, it's me... I hadn't intended to stay out for so long, I'm sorry... But when I was there, the moon was full... It gave the earth this dream-like haze...That soft glowing light. You know I love that..."
Rush HourBetween classes, a fight breaks out in the hallways, and it's up to the girlfriend to instigate a rescue.
"As I got closer to the middle, I had more trouble sliding inbetween the students. They started to glance, glare, grumble at my elbows in their stomachs. They let me through, though. When I was almost to the front, I was almost squashed between a couple of seniors, muscled, but a muttered "she's his girlfriend" suddenly cleared the way for me. The words enhanced the feeling of foreboding churning in my stomach. Now I was pushed, propelled to the front. "She's his girlfriend," went through the crowd. A whisper that spread like a ripple through the onlookers."
The Gaptoothed KeyboardA little girl in an electronics store meets her perfect computer.
"Suddenly, she saw something that pulled her away from her father's safety. It was a laptop. A white one, lonely amongst the serious black ones all around it. It was also smaller. She liked it."
Yesterday's Dream About TomorrowA Christmas story that comes like a thief in the night. Written for my brother.
"“I dreamt a dream of the future,” she breathed back, wishing him to put a little more weight into his curiosity. She does not want to pull him down forcefully to that place of stillness. He doesn’t hear her wish in her voice."