Mother has been brewing phở with her own private stash of Saigon cinnamon for over twenty-four hours in anticipation of the lunch. The entire house is fragrant with its sweet spicy scent. Purchased on her last trip to Vietnam, the cinnamon, harvested near her childhood home in the Central Highlands, makes an appearance only on…
On the terraced hillside above us, there were these clusters of people with enormous smiles. We all watched them from down below. Sometimes they would dance, apparently for us, though perhaps not; slow yet jolly dances in which they swung enormous peacock feather fans over one another’s heads. They would lift their hands up high…
Maggie and Joan took the two o’clock boat to Sugar Island. A man was supposed to show them his camelback sofa: green velvet upholstery, scrolled arms, feet like talons. Seven hundred. The ad said it dated back to 1908. This struck Maggie as disgusting—a hundred years of butts—but Joan loved old things, and she wanted…
My future mother-in-law, Big Bad (not her real name), was knocking on the reclaimed, all-natural, urban woodcraft teak door of her guest bath, saying she wanted to personally assure me I had nothing, literally nothing, to worry about, she had everything under control (Big Bad’s favorite place for everyone), and there was absolutely nothing I…
With each streetlamp we passed on our way to the marina, I could see the two young men in the back, sitting calmly but so clearly afraid—counting prayer beads or looking at signs over metal roller shutters on storefronts as if they could read Turkish. Next to me was Imad with one steady hand wrapped…
The nightgowns look promising on the rack, satin and glamorous. On me they’re saran wrap. I’m in the dressing room at a lingerie boutique, attempting to find something that might interest my husband. He’s coming home tomorrow after being away for two months. I want to surprise him, but every time I look in the…
The day came when we had trouble hearing, and Denorah and I got excited, for we’d have more wax to add to our Nostradamus baby. Denorah poured the warmed hydrogen peroxide into my ears, then I did the same for her. We gave each other time to let it tingle and foam, to shift the…
It was communion day when Pastor Short announced before the congregation his engagement to a woman who was not our mother. I learned people just feed the possessions of the dead to Goodwill, so they don’t sprout bad dreams that pretend to be memories. Instead of doing our little-by-little Sunday donations of Daddy’s clothes, we…
Me and T went to the Denny’s across from the hospital at three in the morning the night Mama tried to kill herself. T ordered a blt sandwich on sourdough with fries. I got the pancake breakfast with eggs sunny side up, hash browns, and bacon. The waitress was good. Never asked us how we…
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