Vt: 141 books

I think about my friend from back in the day, Marvin Greene. I first remember his smile, his overall body language, his strut and his distinctive voice. Then something else pops up and I get distracted. Last time that happened, I made a serious mental note to find a quiet time to reflect. I’d...

We called him mental case. His parents abandoned him on moving day. They didn’t even help the hapless boy carry stuff into the dorms. He’d polish stones a lot. Other days he’d read books by a tall glass tank and feed crickets to his tarantula. Sometimes — mostly at night — I’d hear his...

The group was never meant to be a government.  The belief of the group was simply that any democratically elected government should serve its people first and foremost. In the UK in 2015 it was deemed that this was no longer the case. “They’re at it again!” said Arthur quietly to himself. ...

McCready tensed, crouching low beside a large hedge and peering ahead through the fog and the rain that was compressing Forrester Park like a wet blanket.The city was hiding, it had been raining steadily since noon and no one was moving. In the pale glow of the luminaires lighting the walking...

"I know it must be hard for you, after everything that has happened, Brody. It always pains us when we have to make victims such as yourself relive such traumatic events, but please, can you help us by telling me what happened?" Brody Williams, a boy of fifteen, sat shivering, seated at a metallic...

Ten miles beyond the city the river loses its momentum, drooling into a brackish estuary that feeds the bay.The boats that made the eastward journey out of Versia entered a lower landscape and to the south there were huts and rotten little jetties, from where rural laborers fished sticklebacks and bass.

It was the job of a lifetime for me, teaching people to speak English in Hanoi, Vietnam, and getting paid big money for it. In 1994, the war seemed long over, but for some, it was never going to end, soldiers becoming redundant, and innocent people becoming landlocked, their way of living and thought forever changed, so much so they could never rest, not until their job was done

Which is more beautiful a sunset or sunrise? I had often pondered that throughout my life. It is a subjective question. Every sunrise and sunset is different and varied in intensity of colors and cloud formations. The sun is setting now. To me the darkness that follows is like death. I pray to survive till the next morning's light, the birth of a new day.

She was so young, only 38, and had so much promise. She was also Hollywood star beautiful. We were never lovers but the best of friends. I remembered how the two of us would meet my co-worker Jim and his friend Holly at the Kat Korner. Eventually Jim and Holly got all lovey-dovey and moved in together....

It was a beautiful brisk Manhattan autumn evening in 1984. Jimmy and Frankie were getting back on patrol from their meal. They had enjoyed a late supper at a new French restaurant, the CAFE DU PARC. Their old pal Nicky now owned and managed this elegant cafe on East 19th Street. Last week he had invited them to tonight’s private opening. Nicky was welcoming his hand-picked list of guests.

  Many of us strive for a sense of balance in our lives. We want to keep our goals in harmony with our minds and souls. People with diabetes often have stories to share about their struggles for balance and harmony in their lives. We can honor people by listening to and learning from their...

I am writing this because I have no choice. I'd like to say it is a warning to others, but I have far more selfish reasons. Even if I did warn you, I doubt you would heed it, as I did not heed the warning left for me. I must not waste time, as time is wasting me, in a way that defies the medical...

I gave Nicky a magic set when he was five. It was the first Christmas with just the two of us - his father having walked out three months earlier - and I was worried that he wouldn’t like it. His Dad had always been better at finding the right gifts. The bits and pieces fascinated him, and during...

  George’s only concession to the sun had been to leave the top button of his shirt undone. Having turned eighty and lost his wife earlier in the year, George had travelled from Wisconsin because he had something final to do. Sitting on a blanket on the beach, with thermos and sandwiches, George looked out of place. But he knew this place.