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Traveling Stories

My father, though, seemed unaware of my contempt, and in June, as my high-school-graduation gift, he took me to Torremolinos, on the coast of Spain. He’d booked us a room at a midpriced, touristy hotel through some educator’s discount travel plan. We saw a bullfight. We swam.

Taking Sides

Buying a gun; reading Being Peace, by Thich Nhat Hanh; going to the hole for fifteen days

Faces

Jeanne Moreau, a shattered jaw, a face lift

A Failed Divorce

Living beyond my means in a Manhattan apartment with two babies, no income, and a philandering husband, I suddenly found myself as vulnerable and dependent as any traditional suburban housewife.

The End Of The Day

A west-facing window and Scotch, the Sacred Order of the Kitchen, photos of the summer solstice

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

I knew I was in trouble. It was the way Mama looked at me from across the dining-room table, like I had wandered off and left her, even though I was sitting right there.

Idle Speed

A Prison Journal

I became a crook, endorsing checks made out to the stock brokerage I worked for, putting the funds in my checking account, trading heavily in stock options — always telling myself everyone would be paid off handsomely, and no one would ever know.

Fidelity

She stood up. “Excuse me for interrupting,” she said to the minister, “but he can’t do that. He’s married to me already. We never really got divorced. I never gave him a divorce. Those are our children sitting there in front of you.” She addressed the bride. “It’s better for you to know now than to find out later.”

Staying Together

Being tied up till eternity through the children, writing to each other in a centrally located spiral notebook, consulting the I Ching

Promises

Driving home from work, Bones rehearsed what he’d say when he broke up with Linda. “I got to get out,” he might say. Or, “I’m no good for you.”