Short stories inspired by real events. Each one takes place in an everyday world, with invented people, places and conversations. You can read them here or listen to them as a podcast.
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Stories, newest first
- The Tin: A trucker quits smoking so his daughter will let him hold her baby, and then the thing he's proudest of turns out to still smell like smoke.
- Look in the Slot: A careful village postmaster writes himself a rule so that no letter is ever left behind, and he follows it to the letter.
- The Empty Chair at Table One: On her wedding day, a bride finds her father's seat empty, and she has one hour to figure out why his yes was never going to be enough.
- Past the Red Buoy: A grandfather drives three hours to keep his granddaughter off the water alone, and gets there one phone call too late to be needed the way he hoped.
- Who Called It: Avery has waited three summers to call the duck race, and now the words are getting ahead of the duck.
- A Proper Stall: At ten to six on a Saturday, a son brings a stranger and an envelope to his mother's flower stall.
- Grandpa's Truck, Sundays Only: Six months after the funeral, a proud grandmother makes her grandson a deal for her late husband's pickup, and her youngest grandchild finds the hole in it before the coffee cools.
- The Overnight Request: Every night a cook sends his ex-wife their wedding song over the radio, and everyone tells him she hears it, until he finally asks her.
- Not for Anything: On a hill farm, a ten-year-old gets one job: sit on the wall and wait for the church bell. She is very good at jobs.
- Nobody Ever Had a Cat: Dot wants a teammate who can admit not knowing, but her oldest friend insists on running the tryouts.
- The Cradle That Had Never Rocked: A widower builds a cradle for his first grandchild, and finds out that the only way to test it is to knock on the door of the one woman who always makes him feel small.
- Come Around Here: Rafi once taught Lou how to cook, but tonight he needs Lou to show him where to stand.
- Nobody Inside Has Asked: Walt keeps taking two buses to see his daughter, until an officer tells him why he should stop coming.
- Abuela Hangs Up: A grandmother swears she'll hang up on anyone who says the word "money," and her grandson can't find a way to tell her she's been hanging up on him.
- Tell Me Next Year: On a long drive to a funeral, a son who has finally gotten his life together tries to get his father to believe it.
- Nobody Cuts Until the Yes Is in the Book: The gown is chalked, the wedding is at noon, and the shop has one rule about the shears.
- Four Locks and a Chain: A woman fires the teenage neighbor her father trusts, hires a real professional, and then turns the car around fifty minutes later for no reason she can name.
- Nobody Is to Know: Nell gave the band everything she had on one condition, and her careful sister gave her word.
- Nobody Climbs: A small circus troupe wrote its rules by vote. Now it has one weekend to find out what the rules will let it do.
- Gwen Knows Everything: Everyone at the town pool knows who to ask. One boy has been waiting since June for her to answer him.
Inspired by real events. The people, places and details are invented.