Category: for the birds

  • The Girl with the Bit Part

    What makes her look back? She walks with an open face because she likes when they see. She keeps her hair swept back and keeps a slower pace. Slow, but still purposeful. Her nose stands upturned (from genetics, not from the recent success of the television show on which she has a bit part). It’s…

  • A fun game

    A fun game to play at a bar full of older gentlemen is “The last time I got a tetanus shot…”

  • My short flight

    The last row. Two seats. I’m in the aisle. The girl who would be in the window seat came toward me with a cheeseburger and fries and a very expensive handbag. The flight attendant excitedly greeted her and in the process gave me a mean look and said my bag could not go under my…

  • Not the couch

    “It was a big leather couch. And one by one people came in but no one sat on it. They chose the hard metal chairs next to it instead.” “What’s wrong with people? Metal chairs over a big leather couch?” “And in a waiting room, where they are going to sit and…wait?” “That’s what I…

  • July 11, Mr. Wei 

    Mr. Wei stood near the entrance of the downtown subway. Despite the uncomfortable humidity, he decided it was best to button his white collared shirt all the way to the top. He shuffled a newspaper in his hand, but reading seemed impossible since he could not keep his eyes on the words. Instead, he glanced…

  • Despair Has Its Own Calms

    Nothing cracks me up like watching  a Dracula movie and seeing the Count pop up completely vertical in his coffin. Maybe they filmed it in reverse. It’s like a time lapse of a flower blooming. Hilarious. But I can remember being afraid of Dracula. I was about 4 or 5, and I feared his arrival…

  • Sincerity – if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

    “I can’t get that dog out of my nose.” My mother was making short sniffs of air in and out. The sound was grating on me. We had just left a birthday party full of interesting people and one small, well-intentioned dog. I knew that was the dog she was referring to, but I asked…