I asked you what was wrong. You said, “I can’t get drunk enough.”
The Exchange Student
Her friend had traveled a long way to visit but the school refused to allow her to bring any guests to class.
He tagged along anyway, and she introduced him as a foreign exchange student to all of her teachers, while he nodded awkwardly and pieced together broken English which was, in fact, his native tongue.
OC
He often sorted his things into separate containers according to color, size, or use, sometimes even according to the similarities of the memories brought to mind by the items. But when she came, he found her so unique that he could not classify her into an existing group, and, caring for her so much that he had to put her in a safe place, he kept her in his heart.
Always, ALWAYS Naked
He was my best friend in high school, and I admired his complete lack of inhibition.
Now he is my college roommate, and I just wish he would put some damn pants on.
Who Needs Locks
Always slam the doors when you enter a room.
That’s how you hit the burglars in the face.
D-Jay
His parents sent him to a Christian boarding school against his will. When the boys next door held their weekly bible study, he would play Ani DiFranco at top volume, usually putting a song with gratuitous cursing like “Untouchable Face” on repeat.
Naval Situation
Before you I was drowning, but you threw me a rope. I only saw when I caught it that it was made of lead.
A Reconsideration
She loved him.
Perhaps she should have found out if the feeling was mutual before organizing the surprise wedding.
Vague Giftings
I got you something! …I dunno what it is, but it’s definitely something!
Love Stories
He loved her and she loved him. Shame the ‘her’ and the ‘she’ wasn’t one and the same.
Tendencies
We tend to criticize others for what they do not know due to lack of exposure and take pride in the knowledge we so easily acquired. What’s worse is that we criticize the things that we do not know while we take pride in the knowledge that is of no value to others.
Secret
She never told him so, but she kept every message he left on her answering machine. On really bad days, she would hit “playback” and listen until she laughed out loud.
Urban Escape
The city girl spent exactly 12.5 hours at the agriturismo before making her apologies to the owner, checking out early, and catching the first bus to Rome. It was a salvation to step onto the metro, to make her way through the bustling crowds at the station, and to fall asleep listening to a cacophony of sounds beneath her window.
No More Family Reunions
Your mother wrapped her pies in barbed wire and alarms as always, your nieces played hopscotch over land mines being the little daredevils they are, and our cousins did that tricky balancing act they’ve always done on the picket fence. If you promised to keep all those electric eels of yours on their leashes I’d let you come again, but I knew you were up to no good when I saw you wearing those rubber gloves.
Ever Been Tested?
The tests we have in life – school examinations or job performance evaluations – are seldom reliable and should not be considered bases for assessing your capabilities. If you pass or if you fail, it does not mean that you are superior or inferior to others; the real test is if you know how to deal with failure…and if you know how to handle success.
She Reads
She was neither fake nor vain; she could not understand why other women crowded in shops looking for the perfect dress or the most exquisite necklace, and how they enjoyed their dreams at night when all they could see were their pretentious bodies bathed in gold. She was grateful though – the more women there are in beauty shops, the less there are in the dusty bookstores where she found the most exquisite and perfect stories that conjure her technicolor dreams at night.
Their Love Story
He met her on Mars. They got married on Neptune and he took her to Earth for their honeymoon
Questions at the Brink
As he lay dying he wondered about many things. Why the Sky was blue, the
Earth round and all the other little things except for why him and why now?.
Automatic Shocker
He never had any intentions of rebelling, and if he had found himself in a far more liberal environment, he would have seemed very conservative by comparison. But he could never resist the opportunity to shock someone.
Deepest, Darkest Secret
The neighbors know my deepest, darkest secret. I am boring.