She hesitates at the keyboard, not wanting to find the words. It’s their skin she’ll miss. Everyone looked the same when they first arrived, just like they say all gringos look the same. It’s been a running joke in the family. ‘What do they look like?’ when trying to place a face. ‘Tanned skin, dark hair, brown eyes,’ always the…
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Unfit for entry into the ADF (Australian Defense Force). With that one statement her son’s dreams sank heavily to the bottom of her heart. He has asthma. ‘Kinda feels like nothing big in my life is going my way,’ he wrote. She squeezed her eyes shut and gulped. He was on the other side of the world. Her arms hung…
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She was days away from the event and her mind was anxiously churning. She’d noticed some names on the list whom she had had some slightly unpleasant dealings in the past. Insecurity raised its ugly head and roared into her ears. ‘You are less than. Not good enough. You’ve put on extra weight I see.’ She sinks a little. ‘I…
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A little plant sits on her daughter’s windowsill. She’s amazed to see how much it’s flourished. It’s a hardly succulent, a little light, a little water and it’s not only growing, it’s reproducing. She counts four little plants that are growing individually in the same little pot.             It’s well planted, well established, bearing fruit, multiplying. She thinks about those…
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It was his turn. Breakfast was interrupted by tears that rarely fall. ‘Dad are you really crying?’ the daughter questioned tentatively. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry before.’ ‘He is selling his bike,’ she explained. ‘Looks like he has a buyer.’ ‘It’s not the bike,’ he said all choked. ‘It’s all the times I’ve been out with my…
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