Rhiannon Worthy enters her home in Seattle, Washington, and slips out of her Crocs, then pads across the living room, sorting through her mail. She's been on a 48-hour rotation at the hospital, where she's a nursing supervisor, and she's looking forward to some down time. It's been a week since her daughter, Abigail and … Continue reading Worthy 51, The Phone Call
Category: Family
Rebecca, Too: Oakhurst
After spending her afternoon with Alyssa and receiving her charge, so to speak, Leah heads out the next morning to visit Steven Asher in Oakhurst. She calls first to introduce herself and to make sure Steven is willing to talk to her. At the house, she notes that the home at 466 East Lake Drive, … Continue reading Rebecca, Too: Oakhurst
Rebecca, Too: Three Views of the Sorceress
Funeral Alyssa, age seventeen, is milling about in the vestibule of a Methodist church in Midtown Atlanta, waiting for the funeral of her aunt, Margaret Blaine, who she knows as Peg, to begin. A life-long chain smoker, Margaret succumbed to lung cancer nearly a week earlier. As her oldest and closest brother, it fell to … Continue reading Rebecca, Too: Three Views of the Sorceress
Rebecca, Too: Snapshot McCall
Nurse Lana Turner moves down the hall of the emergency ward at Grady Hospital in Atlanta where she's worked for more than twelve years. In that time, she's seen the job move from patient charts on clipboards hung on the foots of beds to sophisticated, hand-held devices that automatically update the central database, showing up … Continue reading Rebecca, Too: Snapshot McCall
Rosie
Rosalind Worthy sits in the waiting room at the Granger Cancer Facility, in Seattle, where she's been receiving treatment for more than six months. Her mother, Abigail, sits beside her, and her little sister, Rhiannon is across from her, looking through a copy of Highlights magazine. Rosalind is wearing a large, floppy hat to … Continue reading Rosie
A Soldier’s Story
My great-grandparents, James David and Sarah Ella (Harp) Lupo. In all probability, my great-grandfather had no memory of his father, who died in the Civil War at age 25, when my great-grandfather was three. Note: This essay has been updated and expanded in Words Words Words, available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. An earlier … Continue reading A Soldier’s Story
Atlanta Stories Available August 1
Coming soon! Atlanta Stories: Fables of the New South. Eight stories about people coming to Atlanta to reinvent themselves. Stories include: Mockingbird Journey From Night A Debt to Pay Dead Man's Hat Remains Bare-Assed Messiah Atomic Punk Phoenix Release date: August 1. Available at online bookstores and direct from the author.
Inferno, Christine
Zachariah made it clear to Selma that caring for the baby did not take priority over her responsibilities as a wife, so often, Christine was neglected as Selma saw to the needs of her husband. Despite this, Christine thrived, always large for her age. Doctors who examined her thought she was several months older than … Continue reading Inferno, Christine
Inferno, The Birth of Christine
Christine Messner was a large baby, nearly ten pounds, and Selma was in labor with her for twenty-seven hours. Zachariah forbade her from accepting anything for the pain, owing to Genesis 3:16, so Selma was in quite a bit of distress throughout. While the doctors had not known the gender, based on how much weight … Continue reading Inferno, The Birth of Christine
Mockingbird, Brian
Brian Sanger sits in the Starbucks at 1776 Peachtree Street, halfway through a venti, black, dark-roast, Ethiopian coffee, and an almond scone, and looks over a piece of music he's composing. He typically prefers Caribou to Starbucks, but has no car, since his was totaled in an accident early the previous year, and doesn't live … Continue reading Mockingbird, Brian