Fourth of July weekend, I volunteered to cover an extra duty section. The husband and wife who faithfully cover our Friday nights went on vacation and since I wasn't going anywhere, I figured, what the heck. I imagined all sorts of holiday emergencies to which I might fly, ready to render comfort and aid to citizenry impaled by bottle rockets or pinned in spectacularly mangled vehicles. I sat reading a book on my couch, listening to the distant pop of firecrackers, waiting for the inevitable… Continue

I don't want this third cup of coffee. But I'm going to drink it anyway.



Besides, I need something to take the pill with. I hold it in my fingers, wondering whether my feeling better has more to do with feeling like I'm doing something than the actual medical action of this particular drug. I decide it doesn't really matter, that improvement is improvement and whatever dispels the dark is welcome.



I see skinny, tanned, shirtless country boys everywhere, ones like the one… Continue