Special

 Powers

For Mothers and Daughters,

all of whom have Special Powers

Light falls from above on four women standing in a straight line, single file upstage to downstage at center.  There is a grey/… Read full post »

         They studied me as I flipped a family-sized jug of ketchup and a jar of pickled banana peppers into my buggy. Usually at the market, I am immersed in my grocery list, coupons and my mission… Read full post »

“If you got a lead part in a movie, but it had a nude scene, would you do it?”

"Hey, there’s a spot! We must’ve done something right along the way.”

“Yep. Karma. Maybe.”

No corner of Florida is immune from my presence lately being the chief chauffeur for my kids.

We see some great stuff travelling around, most particularly is the ritual of spotting a certain young boy every morning on the short hop to school. We have… Read full post »

 ^{How did they do it without losing their marbles?}

I think of Victorian women in the tropics. Like here in Florida. I've seen the photos.

They were appropriately trussed up in corsets and petticoats, strolling demurely in the park, hankies in hand to sop up the “glow” on thei… Read full post »

_{Dr. Dmitriy Nikitin}

Dr. Dmitriy Nikitin, clad in green scrubs and a puffy green surgery cap leaned into my hospital doorway at three a.m. and said, “How are you doing?”

When the flattened remnants of mangled road kill stood up and belly-danced before my watering eyes, I should’ve known something was up.

It was my breakfast.

I was going to puke, vomit, hurl, blow chow.  And right now.

But, at hour three of a ten hour… Read full post »

In college, I played Miranda in Shakespeare’s The Tempest so my mother came to Tallahassee for opening night. Trussed up in a whale-bone corset that ruthlessly flattened my boobs and compressed my lungs, I was directed to perform gymnastic physical action on a/… Read full post »

 ACT I

SCENE ONE 

• (An island near Bimini in the Caribbean Sea.  Home of Prosper and Ellie Seacord.  It is the interior of a small, brightly colored Caribbean cottage with a living room in the foreground strewn with big comfortable flower print cushioned rattan
… Read full post »

It’s a good thing the accident happened before I saw the movie. 

Sitting down to dinner, the cell phone rang.  It’s The Boy, I thought.  He has my car. 

I could hear sirens and road noise and my Boy’s voice yelling “Mom! Mom! Oh God, MOM!” fo… Read full post »

Note: A fellow Open Salon writer, Dom Macco, came up with an idea awhile back about a fictional character named “Carl” who has recently died. In the story, other fictional characters have been asked to prepare eulogies for Carl’s funeral, but each has little or no actual know… Read full post »

The loss of her bikini top was accidental. 

She was treating herself to a short sunbath in the back yard and sat up  too quickly when they stampeded. Her loosely tied top just flipped down.  All five cats and the dog left muddy pawprints on her belly scrambling dir… Read full post »

John and Ted were unabashed bachelors in paradise.

 ^{John and Ted. Men on a mission.}

Beach tanned and up for anything from scuba diving to formal dinner dances, they ranged around in Fort Lauderdale in the 50’s cutting a wide swath socially. … Read full post »