I am fascinated by reality TV. I love the cheesy gimmicks and the faux competitions. What is better than seeing alliances made and betrayed, secrets kept by shouting them out? I can’t get enough of the building tension as one contestant after another is sent home, banished, excommunicated, forever branded a loser. I have studied reality TV. […]
When my brother and I were boys we used to stand up on the hill by Mark Riley’s house and wait for cars to come by so we could bombard them with snowballs. The spot we stood was perfect because we could see the cars from a long way off. We were much higher than […]
Greg Palumbo and me, we were always looking for dirty pictures. Walking down Westlake Drive – that was the main drag in the little town outside of New York where I grew up – we’d scour the bushes and every so often – just often enough to keep us at it – we’d find a […]
Shortly before the nation’s bicentennial, a wave of graffiti washed over Philadelphia. Before long it came to the attention of A. Edward Jaffe. In those days Jaffe was still the features editor of the Bulletin He was a skinny man of fifty with bad, bad breath like he stunk inside. He’d been with the paper […]
When the rain came I decided to show them how to play Monopoly. They were so young, so inexperienced. I almost felt sorry for them. Can you imagine? Timmy (12) and Josh (10) and Delia (8) and Marvin (11) sitting at the same table as me? I played the strategy of the day; all leverage. […]
Lorraine and Kevin Bibby owned the largest tree in the neighborhood and when it split with a sizzling crack during a wicked summer lightning storm the whole community felt their loss. Mighty, stately, the copper beech had spread its limbs and leaves over the circular drive that lead to Gwendellin, the Bibby’s manse, for the […]
The brothers had been left by themselves for the morning in the living room of the Murray Hill apartment where their grandparents lived. The younger brother, Nicky, had been lying on his back on the deep carpet in the living room for hours, occasionally swooping an electric green action figure over his head and ignoring […]
“How does my laugh sound to you,” he said, “does it sound tinny?” “Tinny?” She asked. They were in a coffee shop on Chestnut Street called Coffee Roasters. They were in large over-stuffed chairs. She had a latte in a saucer and she had it delicately balanced on the big round arm of the chair […]
Pacific Heights is a wealthy San Francisco neighborhood that brings tourists to see the huge houses – the houses of Larry Ellison of Oracle, Senator Diane Feinstein, the writer Danielle Steele. The streets rise up from Cow Hollow until they reach the crest at Broadway, an uber-wealthy street at the very top of Pacific Heights. […]
The three men were sitting in a trolley car that had long ago been turned into an expensive drinking establishment. Political figures were on the TV screen above the bar but the men were not paying attention. They had positioned themselves where the walnut and brass bar took a sharp right turn so that two […]
“Play you three for King,” he said. “I already am King,” I said. “You won’t be for long.” He gave me a long and taunting look. He had adopted the especially dramatic delivery that seven-year-old boys have perfected. “That is, Dad, if you dare …” He had gotten a game called Gangland for his […]
Since moving to San Francisco I have become a loyal fan of Uber. But Uber is pricy and one day I heard about a cheaper alternative called Sidecar, the “People’s Uber”. I decided I would try it out the next time I needed to go to the airport. A few days later I have another […]
I was 20 maybe. Second-year of college. Home for the summer. I had a half-assed summer job and lots of free time. I was with a girl who I liked. I no longer remember her name. We were in Valley Forge Park. It was a bright summer. We parked down by the old unused train […]
After nine months in San Francisco, I went to the East Coast for the summer. My friends said it was wise to get out of the Bay Area in July and August so I arranged my schedule to be away until after Labor Day. When I returned I wondered how it would feel to be […]
“I am a very good lawyer”, she said. Emmy was nine and riding in the front seat of my car. The seat was sufficiently sensitive to realize that she weighed under 80 pounds and therefore the airbag was off. It was the subject of some debate whether it was safe for Emmy to ride in […]
“This is Jim Fitzgerald,” my voice mail said. “I’m looking for a Joe Doorsky. If you are him, please give me a call. It’s about Kensico Little League.” Kensico Little League? Kensico was where I played baseball as a boy. My family moved away more than 30 years ago. I had never heard of Jim […]
Eli said, “Jay Boy, you are looking kind of hobo.” Eli and I were standing on Haight Street outside a grungy store called “Robot Speak”. Robot Speak specialized in equipment for electronic music. “Hobo? You are calling me hobo” “Hobo.” “Why so?” “Well, you have got the sandals that aren’t really sandals they are just […]
My cousin is visiting. I should have done a better job of planning for dinner but she has comprehensive food allergies and I am lazy and so it is Saturday afternoon and we want to go to dinner that night and I have not made a reservation. I am feeling pretty guilty already and that […]