The nymph returns. I see her bare, dirt-smeared feet as she flits away. Her eyes peer at me through the bushes. They are wild, fiery eyes. My work calls, but I think to catch her, moving slowly, tentatively. She runs, howling with laughter, her lanky form slipping through some crack…
Archive for family
When she was a baby, I could just cover her eyes with my hands and then take them away. Peek-a-boo! It astonished her. I disappeared and then reappeared. Magic. When I first taught her to play hide-and-seek, she would hide under the desk. And then, before I had finished counting,…
Mr. Willis Montgomery ate his breakfast slowly. It was Saturday. The end of the week had come. He had no more excuses. It was time to rake the yard. Mr. Montgomery despised raking. He hated the crunch of the leaves beneath his feet. It was like listening to someone chew…
The dimly lit gymnasium/bingo hall of St. Mary’s Catholic School squeaked with shuffled strides and rubber wheels as the members of the Heidelberg/Smolinske family gathered for their annual Christmas reunion. Great Aunt Mabel had died in August, fifteen years after her husband, nearly to the day (wasn’t that always how…
Chase leaned against the metal railing that kept him from falling onto the railroad tracks below. The bridge he stood on was old and wooden, with thick, hammered-over nails holding it together. He’d found the remote spot soon after getting his license as he drove, turning at random, just to…
Once upon a springtime eve, when the mosquitoes were not yet out, there was a father who found himself alone. His wife was out for coffee with old college friends, his two older kids, 6 and 4, were asleep, and the baby had conked out in her swing. Even the…
Round and round I spun. Anne clung to me, laughing, her face pressed against my chest. I sped up. Her giggles bubbled up, and her tiny hands clenched my shirt. The room blurred. I stumbled about in a larger circle, nearly losing my balance. I gyroed my way to the…
The hallway was dark and full of hiding places. The black shadows halted Anne for a moment, but it was crawling out from its lair. She flung herself out of her room, crossed the great void, and smashed into her parent’s bedroom door. She fumbled with the knob. Scooting, scratching…
“Look, daddy, look!” My going-on-three-year-old son points out the window of the van as I drive home. “Wow, the moon is big tonight, isn’t it?” “Daddy, I want to get it.” “Well, how are you going to get it?” He thinks seriously for a moment, drawing out his “Um…” before…
Categories
Archives
Series
The Works of Nick Hayden
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved