Move On

Ghosts don’t do much talking as a rule; they’re too self-absorbed. That’s why they walk through walls. They’re too busy dwelling on their own problems to notice that the hotel has been remodeled since they died in it in 1850. Being a medium can get pretty damn lonely when you get right down to it.Continue reading “Move On”

Cost of Living

Once upon a time, there was a little village, nestled deep in a wooded valley, where no one ever died. You might think that it would have been the happiest village in the world. It wasn’t. The village was in perpetual darkness, the large trees which surrounded every house and farm blocking out both sunContinue reading “Cost of Living”

You Can’t Run Away Forever: Confronting a Dark Past (Part 2 of 2)

Joseph Flora, a university professor, once included Shane in a course he conducted on American literature. He found the student’s aversion to the character of Shane interesting, and rationalized it with this statement: “At century’s end, in post-Vietnam America, believing in Shane’s kind of heroism and selflessness is hard, as is believing in a characterContinue reading “You Can’t Run Away Forever: Confronting a Dark Past (Part 2 of 2)”

Mind Over Matter

The migraine had lasted for three days. Paul begged his wife to go see the doctor, but she just glared at him in the bathroom mirror as she swallowed down another Excedrin. “Honestly, Paul,” she said, once the pill had been pushed down her throat, “you’re like an old woman. It’ll be fine.” She ranContinue reading “Mind Over Matter”

You Can’t Run Away Forever: Confronting a Dark Past (Part 1 of 2)

Former president Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it;” he would certainly know something about regretting the past. Among his many acts as President, he is remembered by most for escalating American involvement in the Vietnam War, from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 toContinue reading “You Can’t Run Away Forever: Confronting a Dark Past (Part 1 of 2)”