• 

  Some Debts

• 

  The Price Of A Slice Of Cake

• 

  A Mother’s Stand

• 

  Thirty Days

• 

  “just A Quiet Dinner,” My Son Promised. But Twenty Of His Wife’s Relatives Crashed The Reservation, Ran Up An $8,000 Tab, And When The Check Hit The Table He Slid It Toward Me And Said, “mom, You Pay, We’ll Wait In The Car.” I Reached For My Bag Like I’d Done A Thousand Times Before… But This Time, What I Did Next Made Every Single One Of Them Regret It For The Rest Of Their Lives.

• 

  For Father’s Day, My Son Gave His Father-in-law A $50,000 Truck And Handed Me A $15 Watch; One Week Later He Called Me 47 Times Screaming, “dad, Don’t Do That!” – And That Was The Day I Finally Stopped Being His Personal Atm And Remembered I Was A Father, Not A Resource.

• 

  The Fortress And The Fracture

• 

  The Seat In The Kitchen

• 

  My Nephew Had Been Baptized Three Months Ago.

• 

  The Last Rose Bush

• 

  The Voice From Downstairs

• 

  The Candles Were Lit. The House Smelled Of Cinnamon And Roast Turkey.