Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Tales My Father Never Told Me
I guess my earliest recollection of my father's exploits occurred when I was about eight or nine. As was the family custom to always sit down to dinner promptly at 6, I can remember in joyous excitement when my father recounted the days when he was young. The "good old days" as my father so fondly recalled. There was this one evening when the dishes were cleared as my father lit another Camel cigarette leaned over and said let me tell you a story of how I managed to get through school. Leaning back in the comfort of his high back chair as he exhaled smoke, " Son, back in the fall of '23 was the best year yet. I still have my raccoon coat upstairs in that closet to the left. The one I wore to all the football games that my roommate Red Grange played. The galloping ghost they called him." As I sat quite still leaning forward to here every word I remember how the gleam in his eye shown as he remembered his glory days of a bygone era.
By Dr. Williams5 years ago in Families
The Little Black Notebook
The soothing sounds of my mother playing the piano. Her hands moving on the black and white keyboard as fluently as water. Her head tilting from left to right along with her body as she swayed with her arms, which to me, looked almost like waves. My father didn’t play the saxophone but I often dreamt of him with one in his tiresome, scratched up arms. When he came back from work they reminded me of the really wrecked parts of walls from our local abandoned building in which homeless folks drank and slept, and had sex. They were nothing like my mothers hands. When he gave me a pat on my back I could almost feel the scratchiness of them through my clothes. In my dreams they were soft, big but gentle. Oh how wonderful they would sound as I slept. Her sonatas so beautifully played and him, holding his instrument in his arms, graceful, not full of dust and paint on his clothes.
By Noah Balulis5 years ago in Families
Love Letters from Heather
Dear Dad, I gained a much fuller appreciation of you in 2018 when I asked point blank questions about your upbringing in order to glean a story for the anthology Brainstorm Revolution Wintertickle Press was publishing. You were 88 years old at the time and still chopping trees, cutting grass, shovelling driveways, checking Facebook—all things you might consider mundane, but things I think impressive!
By Heather Down5 years ago in Families
For Angelo
His mom’s voice beckoned him through the walls, an unintelligible jumble of hushed, anxious sounds that demanded investigating. Troy imagined himself a spy, no, a ninja as he navigated the obstacle course of creaky floorboards in the hallway. He pressed himself against the wall outside his mom’s room and listened, glad that the warped wood of her door left it permanently ajar.
By Sophie Richton5 years ago in Families
Kindness is Priceless
Michael sat on a chair in his son Jonathan’s room at the children’s hospital. He felt like it had been a century since he, along with his son, had been airlifted here, though it somehow had only been a few days. Jonathan had suddenly collapsed at home the other day and after a terrifying drive to the Emergency Room where Michael had gotten no answers at all, the doctor had called for a helicopter.
By Matthew Walker5 years ago in Families
Little Black Book
PART I She was old, very old, at least her body was. There was no denying that. The mirror confirmed it when she occasionally caught a glimpse of herself in it. She didn't mind. Getting older meant that she was still here in life. The consequences of it though could be a burden. The pains in her joints, eyesight failing, movements getting slower. She still had the use of her legs, albeit for short distances only. She was grateful that she could still get to the shops every couple of days and stand long enough to prepare and cook herself an evening meal. Incredibly and most importantly, her mind was still as sharp as ever. She believed that to be a small miracle.
By Elaine Beaudro5 years ago in Families
5 Female Celebrities That Look Exactly Like Their Mother
Are they twins? What happened? Did the daughter come back as a doppelganger of the mother? Is this reincarnation? As you read through today’s list, these are some of the questions you'll find yourself asking.
By Jide Okonjo5 years ago in Families
