Maggie found Knut rummaging in the kitchen. She often discovered him scrounging a snack, though breakfast was hours away. If he couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t sleep.

Compared to their daily lapses in communication, midnight snacks were of little note. An immigrant from Denmark, Knut spoke English pretty well. …

Stealing through the pre-dawn forest, Leaf sensed the dragon before seeing it. He’d never smelled brimstone before but the ungodly stench fit the name. Dressed in an ill-fitting suit of armor, he moved as quietly as he could.

A low howl filled his ears from beyond the copse of trees…

People are hungry. It awakens after midnight and gnaws at them. Masks come off. Those insatiable needs drive them like voracious sheep.

I dropped a guy at SFO to catch the red-eye. He told me, ‘All cities are the same.’ He’d traveled the world and said they are interchangeable. Indistinguishable…

Jay and Ann made their way through the wharf-side bustle to the gang plank. A line of couples made their way past the white uniformed purser, checking documents.

Ann looked around and then at the rings on her finger. “It’s so romantic. Isn’t it?”

Jay hugged her as they waited…

“I don’t trust her,” announced Glinda. The dull roar of the food court washed over them.

Elizabeth frowned, “Why not?”

“She’s a witch.”

“Aren’t we all? I thought…”

“Well, I’m just a wannabe.”

“But we’re learning…”

“And she’s weird.”

“Comes with the territory, if you ask me.”

“And too cute.”

…

If a shutter clicks in the forest, does it take a picture?

Imagine your favorite photograph. Everyone has one. When the shutter snaps and an image is captured, what a rush.

One of my favorites is of a pelican going aloft over shining water. Wings fully extended, its toes barely…

Finch mumbled to himself as he inventoried items for the trip.

Polly touched his arm and tilted her head in a question.

He said, “Cooper says ‘get packed.’ Pack light, he says. Should be a quick trip. Travel light. Half-way around the world? Pack light? Spackle? Pickle? Pecked?” Polly backed…

I finally understood my father. Had I become him? He always hated whining.

I do too.

Like a fountain of molten rock, rage welled up. Where did this come from? Unsuppressed, would it continue? Unstoppable? Obliterate me and everything?

I imagined ripping up the sidewalk and tossing concrete slabs like…