Author Archives: Al

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! Mike stayed over that Sunday, going with Jeanne and I to Leslie’s for brunch. She and Bev had upgraded their place settings, or maybe someone’s parents, after experiencing the mismatched plates, cups and utensils, had bought them a … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! Priscilla said, “Boom!” every time her daughter, Kimberly, knocked down the letter blocks. After only three tries Kimmie started giggling as she mouthed, “Bmm-m-m”, crashing the three-high stack with a wild sweep of her right arm. Priscilla sitting … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! In December, Mike unexpectedly came up to Cambridge on a snowy Friday evening. I got the call from our house mother as I sat studying for Child Development, cozy in my flannel nightgown and crocheted quilt, a hand-me … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! A few weeks later, on a Friday afternoon, Leslie found me in Hilles Library, indiscriminately underlining Kagan’s Birth to Maturity. With her usual abruptness, she asked, “Janie, know where Jeanne and Marcia are?” I pointed my head behind … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! That semester, Bev and Leslie moved into an off-off campus apartment. Once a single family home, each of the three stories had been carved into a separate unit with tiny bedrooms, kitchen, bath, and a dining/living area flowing … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! That languid week after Labor Day, Mike and I spent most afternoons at his house or mine. Walking around my neighborhood, sitting on the edge of his pool, watching each other pack for school, we caught up on … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! In the ER, they shaved my temple before sewing up the two-inch long gash left by someone who must not have been wearing sneakers. The nurses were thoughtful enough to collect the hair after they cut if off, … Continue reading →

!!!***WORKING DRAFT***!!! My parents insisted I find something, anything, that would “look good on my resume” during August. “Honey, you can’t just sit around all day here. Your friends from school, Lizzie, J, P, all of them, have jobs. Mike … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! Once again, we spent every evening we could together, the week or so before I left for the Vineyard. Days when he worked early, Mike would come to my house, and watch the TV news with us, before … Continue reading →

!!!!!*****WORKING DRAFT*****!!!!! “I remember…some smells of you, of us.” We were lying on my bed, side-by-side, playing a new game we’d just invented: “What do I remember?” It didn’t matter who’d started it, the idea was to come up with … Continue reading →