The Five-Two

GUILT AT THE TRANSFER STATION There's a lot of baggage in the garbage at the transfer station, which we used to call the dump. Som...

A FALL INTO GRACE This afternoon, We watched a woman push a small, silent child on a swing. She seemed sad, pushing him, ever so gently...

MORTAL TERROR I would share that last meal with you, even tear open the ketchup packets with my teeth— although if I help you they migh...

BOO COO Once the star halfback in high school, Duncan came back from Vietnam a changed man: slept in a hammock he’d strung up in the wo...

BITE Teeth, even of largish dogs can be so small they leave no trace on the warp and woof of flimsy slacks– just a tiny purple emblem l...

PREDATOR AND PREY Boosted the crimson Mont Blanc from my boss's desk. She was in with a client. Too busy to notice or care. I'd ...

OFF THE GRID I use burner phones So no one can find me I always check my six So no one gets behind me I study Houdini So no ropes can...

MY SUMMER VACATION I finished 4th grade in June and am looking forward to 5th in September. I will be in Mrs. Kuchinski's class and...

SCHOLASTIC MUSICAL CHAIRS If you grabbed a tactical entry tool or common burglar's pry bar and opened the file cabinet of Linda...

ELEGY FOR A LOST WAR Though I will honor them, I will not celebrate our troops, their deeds, and the deaths of all those children, women...

ICE CREAM PEOPLE They were the safe ones, bland, blonde, blue-eyed, good boys, the only kind your mother allowed you to date. Honor st...

CONFIDENCE "Nothing says confidence like a brand-new suit and tie," the voiceover in the Men's Wearhouse ad declares, as ...

LOVE ME LIKE A MURDER SCENE You hold me like a ransom note and love me the way a knife loves a heart. The police tape is strewn around ...

WE DIDN'T KNOW Danny was so sure of his carefully drawn plan. And even though I had doubts since he had been away once before I le...

ELEGY FOR A SMALL TOWN When geese fly south across the sky Aroun’ this time each year, Ain’t nothin’ much to see some guy Go out ‘n’ d...

GHOUL IN THE CROWD At dawn I saw him hanged They took him to the market square A handsome blue-eyed fellow Tight jaw and yellow hair. ...

STAY WITHIN YOUR WALLS Guinevere paces her convent cell, fumes at fate, perfidious men, the injustice of involuntary confinement. Kn...

STAR WARS: DARK FORCES RE-AWAKEN (FOR A 7TH TIME) The only correct answer to the question of "Star Wars or Star Trek," geeks, i...

CON MAN The man in the next lane gestures for me to pull over. A broken brake-light? A balding tire about to blow? I obey and do the ...

FACTS Facts are such painful, inconvenient things when weighed against what we want to believe; as if wishing were enough to give us win...