The gossip in the building was that the column of Russian tanks had advanced up Bartok street on their way to do something with the rebellion. What was less clear was whether a tank had actually come into the back yard as they claimed. 

It was late when Silvia pulled into Franconia, far later than she had planned. She found a diner on the quiet main street, but it was closed, as was most everything else in the town. Worse yet, the fuel lamp on the dashboard of the Mercedes shined a bright red.

By the time I was in eighth grade Mrs. Forbes’ frame acquired a concave shape, a slight hunchback that we all marveled at because it reinforced our impression of her as someone who was old, strange and unwanted. But she kept on mowing, raking and shoveling as if nothing could stop her.

The rest of the family joined in with stories mythologizing her wild and prickly nature. Even her maiden surname Liberty — anglicized from La Liberté — seemed mythic. When she was not much older than he was now she’d helped her mother cook for lumber camps where her father worked.

Icicles hang down from the gutters and the thin metallic railing that leads to the walk.  Tree branches bend under the weight of ice that encases them like a cast for a broken leg.  When April cries, Jen imagines curling up in André’s arms and looking up at his clear eyes.  His belief in his own promising future makes her believe something good can happen to her too.

I savored each bite of the pie.  Each forkful lingered in my mouth, against my teeth.  My tongue tasted the tangy lemony goodness.  This was the day, there was no getting around it.  If I didn’t complete my task tonight, there would be no more todays. 

Renata was assessing her schedule. She had only two more nights in Munich before returning to Riga. Would it be enough to go to bed with him? She wasn’t, in fact, desperate, but was worried that, if it didn’t happen, Andy would forget her immediately.

One day the grandmother said, “Kisszepseg, I have a yearning for a berry pie. I want you to go into the woods and pick berries for me. There is a bush full of berries near the giant fir tree that was split by lightning. You must bring me exactly one thousand berries, do you hear? One berry less and the pie is ruined.”

“…when we met, she once told me that she lived her days in English but all her dreams were in French. And what happened—” He paused as emotion unexpectedly clogged his throat. He coughed to push the words through. “What happened to her…she did not deserve…”

The dream started when a woman with a dog on a leash asked me what kind of fish I was fishing for. Not realizing I was fishing until just that moment, I looked down to find a reel attached to a long rod with the butt end in my hands.