The sun rose ripe and warm over the quiet town of Batavia, Illinois, tucking shadows into the pockets of morning. People opened their shutters and children ran out to play. Robins sang high in the trees as squirrels played beneath them. With a proud smile on his face, a father gently puts his daughter Emma [...]

It was the end of July with my birthday in the first week of August quickly approaching. I was eight years old going on nine and had been asking for a bright red Radio Flyer wagon since Christmas. Being brought up on a dairy we had little money but a great deal of work to [...]

Bear and Rodge’s son Tadferd decided to leave the hunting club at 4:41 a.m. for a morning of hunting. They crept quietly, down the narrow corridor trying not to wake the other members of the club who had decided to forego the morning hunt in lieu of sleeping off the previous night’s opening day celebration. [...]

Maia Talitz first noticed the ants in her kitchen the day she kissed her son, Herschel, goodbye. He was going to be a soldier. It was a strange ambition for a Jewish man. Up until a few months before it would not have been possible. Jews were simply not permitted to serve in the armed [...]

I am a plain man. I do not believe folks can read the future or your palm or your mind. Things too wonderful for me to understand, I don’t even ponder. Who can claim to know what happens when we die? Whether we go to heaven or sleep until Jesus returns? For Edna, I suppose [...]

In the town of Yelm there was a fountain. It was the local custom to toss coins into the fountain while wishing for some heart’s desire or other. Whether any of these wishes were ever actually granted is not known but once a custom like this has been started, it is almost impossible to stop. [...]

Nathan Borokovsky woke up before the sun, before the alarm clock. He reached a sleepy hand out to silence the unnecessary alarm lest it disturb Hannah who was snoring softly beside him. He went to the bathroom for his morning ablutions. He turned on the light, looked in the mirror and almost fainted. The man [...]

One hazy summer morning, while it was still cool but the air was heavy and promised afternoon heat, Sister Alma Rose and I walked into Hilltop early, just as the shops were opening. It is a downhill walk to get there, so of course it is uphill all the way home, and I was already [...]

Teresa hated hospitals. They smelled funny. She could tell that people tried to make it welcoming, but for her, it didn’t work. She only liked going to the hospital if there were new babies. The Intensive Care Unit, however, was not the place she wanted to be. She walked toward her mom’s room, chewing on [...]

Caterina buried her face in the pillow and screamed. In bed beside her, Mamma stirred, turned towards her, eyes still closed. Asleep. Quietly, Caterina rose from the bed, squinted at Baby Marco in his crib, and walked cautiously into the kitchen. There in the darkness, arms resting on the windowsill, she sat staring out at [...]