We are not heathens, just from another country, not knowing English yet. We are the town’s curiosity, the zoo that people visit, to see how we live, what food we eat, and how we talk. Some visit regularly, especially the church ladies. They come to give us printed papers, single fold with Jesus’ stories and…
Andrea the Crone: First Chakra
I see the mind as the computer and the body as the hard drive. I saw it clearly in my clients, one after the other. Every emotion thought and experience gets stored away in this incredible machine, the body. Each chakra is like a folder and holds the experiences related to it.
Little Andie: Nile Street 1. River eels.
The river ran deeper where it turned sharply. That’s where the eels lived. I could sit on the bank on the opposite side and wait for them to come out of their holes. They were dark and fast little snakes. If I moved, they’d hide right away, so I had to be still for quite…
Little Andie: Nile Street 2. The Gypsy told me.
Someday I’ll tell you how I lost my voice, but I’m thinking, not today. I always knew he had a soft hold on the world from the minute he was born. So I watched over him better than anyone else. Even better than our mother, who loved to tell trash like “A gypsy told me…
Teen Andie: In the Flow & Fried Chicken
Fried anything is good. Fried chicken is irresistible. Add the announcement, coupled with plates piled high with three big pieces, a glob of creamy mashed potatoes with a well of gravy in the middle, more dribbling down the sides of the crater into a side of corn. Three plates stacked on my left arm, one in my right, moving within inches past these greedy noses quivering in my wake…
Ken & Andie Story 9/9
Ken Andie part 9 Life went on as before. Working and sleeping, going out sometimes. It was difficult at home. I tried to stay away as much as possible. I missed my brother terribly. We were so close, I suffered with guilt. I had saved his life twice, but this time it was beyond me….
Ken & Andie Story 8/9
October 6th, we drove around and ended up with fried chicken. This time it wasn’t so nice. Around O’hare airport were lots of clubs, all kinds, some beautiful hotels and restaurants, and many seedy strip clubs. There was a section of north Irving Park road, where the flight crews rented and sublet their pads. Couldn’t…
Ken & Andie Story 7/9
I think I began to feel guilty for Ignoring him. For sticking him with the endless drama that was the package and parcel of my mother. I actually felt a bit sorry for him. He had endurance, that was for sure. So I talked to him and agreed to go out with him. He said…
Ken & Andie Story 6/9
Ken & Andie part 6 It’s the undertaker kid Ken. He drove here in the hearse bringing us more thank you cards. We had such a big funeral , we must need more cards he says. I watch from the hallway to my room. It’s a small house, you can hear everything. I let my…
Ken & Andie Story 5/9
My family of three, and only three now, not four, walked out of the double doors leading to the awaiting cars. Shiny black Cadillacs, the leader without a back roof in order to hold large wreaths and sprays of carnations, chrysanthemums, and occasional roses entwined with wire and forced into unnatural and hard shapes. Forms…
Ken & Andie Story 4/9
Ken & Andie (part 4) It was a two day wake and visitation. Hundreds of people came, so many from our school, work friends and customers. Some because they cared. Some who fed on the macabre, hoping to see a mangled body. Some who fed on other peoples sorrow and drank their tears like nectar….
Ken & Andie Story 3/9
I kept the same shift at the diner after graduation, and continued to work so I could save money. August 23rd I had a dream that was so graphic and strange. I woke up very disturbed and went to work. It would not leave my mind, so I wrote it down hoping it would leave…
Chicks & Jam 