“Sorry, Ethel, but I dropped it last week when I had my head out the window up there, trying to push snow down.” Old Mr. Johnstone is explaining why his snow shovel is lying up on the roof, just short of the eave. Only the outline of it is visible, under this morning’s flurry. “I told him,” Mrs. Johnstone says, “‘Tom, you’re too old to be doing that. Get one of the Marston boys.’” The Marstons live on the other side. That’s not an option now, during school hours. Ethel

Taking a flashlight out of the drawer, Dr. Congi bent down and looked straight up inside Tami. Tami could swear she could feel the heat of the light as it crept like a searchlight along her insides. “Tami, you have a beautiful cervix!” Dr. Congi exclaimed brightly. Somebody giggled. Responding to this, she said, “She does!” Standing up again, Dr. Congi said, “I’d like you all to look at the inside of Tami’s vagina. Refer to this poster first. You can easily make out th

He watched with me as I slowly leafed through. These were indeed strange designs, half-shirt, half-skirt, or half-gloves, half-sweater, and half-hat, half-I-don’t-know-what. There were very few skimpy designs. Almost all seemed to afford full coverage and warmth. Warmth seemed like the main emphasis. Maybe it was due to Tami Smithers’s influence that women, especially, had been covering up more in recent years. As I got to page 37, near the end, he said, “Footwear has

I love combing Lisette's hair in the quad. It's a thing we do every day after lunch. She lies on her back on one of the concrete tables, bends her knees, and lets them fall to the side, giving me a clear view of her beautiful forest of auburn curls. I do it nice and slow, using the soft brush and then the long-handled comb, then start over. No point to it really, she already brushes her hair every morning (actually, one of the other girls in her suite does it, it being easier

The radiator is fixed but it needs a new thermostat which won’t come in until tomorrow. That’s ok -- I want to stay in this town until I find out more about Sukie, the girl who is always naked. I wait until just before school is out before walking into town. I sit on the same bench, at the same time. Again, the school bus empties with middle-school kids. Again, some high school kids walk by. But no Sukie, nor any of her friends (I think). Half an hour goes by and still,

On this spring evening, around the dorms at Campbell - Frank College, the scent of newly risen flowers and fertile, moist earth mingled in the air with young voices from the open windows. From Pilgrim Hall, Rankin Hall, and the other dorms, students could be heard chatting, laughing, sometimes singing, music from CD’s playing here and there. Mid-terms over, finals a long way away, an easy, carefree season. In Pilgrim Hall, Room 207, Jeanette and Latosha, sociolo