Memoir

Snowballs, a story 600

Snowballs

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 […]

smut 600×600

Smut

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 […]

Monopoly

Monopoly –

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) […]

amnio bw 600×600

Amnio

  “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 […]

train 360×360

Train

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. […]

defender 600×600

The Defender is Guilded

“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 […]

big league cropped

Big league

“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 […]

Honeydipping-a-story-600×600-1

Honeydipping

For a brief period – the fall after I graduated from college – I worked for Crow Brothers Construction Co. In those days, Crow Brothers were the dominant septic cleaner […]

flying 600×600

Flying

Delia and I used to play a game called ‟Flying.” I would call her and she would run headlong at me at the full churning tilt her little legs could […]

center city 600×600

Center City

My friends and I were 15 that summer and we thought we had outgrown the suburban town where we lived. Center City, that seedy forbidden downtown core of Philadelphia, was […]

In-Colma-Icon-600×600-1

In Colma

I moved to San Francisco after a lifetime on the East Coast and hadn’t even finished unpacking before I turned sixty. Everything about my new circumstances was strange. I no […]

In Bogota

In Bogota

Joan Didion once published an essay called “In Bogota” and years later, in a hotel in Italy, I came upon it and discovered that she had written about Bogota when […]