The Avocado Grove

Stories from the Grove

2023-03-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Stories from the Grove is based on this blog, The Avocado Grove and features characters that live in a fictional community in South Florida. The stories began in 2014 with the first post about a teen, Mickey, who turns into a ghost after drinking and driving but believes he is still alive. The tales have expanded to include a neighborhood of characters who have put up with lots of re-writing and new versions of themselves.

The book is free on Kindle Unlimited. And is also available in paperback.

I hope you enjoy!

From Most Popular - Concessions 2

2022-05-31T09:15:00.003-07:00

It’s Marianne Martin’s arm. Ally glares at it and trips over the feet of the woman standing next to her. The butterfly tattoo seems to stare back.

“Excuse me,” Mrs. Johnson says. And it seems all of the women shoo her away simply for stepping on the old lady’s shoe. “My feet are made of flies,” Ally says and dusts off.

She looks away from them and from the butterfly too. But she listens to Marianne chatter on about dinner. To hear her nemesis go on about Don’s chili is like hearing about the birth of a royal child or the naming of a new pope. But Don isn’t Marianne’s husband, he’s Ally’s.

“Cow," Ally says. She doesn’t recognize her voice and the meanness. She thinks it must be nerves. And when she dares to make eye contact with the other women, she is relieved they’ve wandered off.

From across the yard she hears, “Are we eating yet?” She hates that voice. It isn’t a joke, and it should offend everyone.

Ally is grateful she bought a brand new tube of waterproof mascara. She lets her gaze drift to the place where Marianne holds court in a horseshoe of land, in a spot that seems shadier than where she is. Marianne dips her hand into a cooler and pulls out a frosty beer. The one Ally drinks is lukewarm, and as she presses it to her lips, she feels dirtier than ever, and she wonders about getting her own tattoo. Marianne’s butterfly comes alive and whispers, “It might make people like you better.”

Ally glances over to where Marianne winks and dazzles everyone and she eavesdrops on the gossip. It isn’t anything new. She polishes off her beer and stares at the circle around Marianne.

Ally remembers when she had attitude too, young attitude, when it was the four of them, her and Frank and Eddie and Grizelda. They were the twenty-something somebodies until the day she and Frank got married and Grizelda called, early.

Scenes from Working Title - When Mrs. Johnson Disappeared

2022-04-30T14:55:00.001-07:00

“Have you made arrangements for the dog?” Roberto asks.

Roberto Dennis gives his wife, Delucca a kiss on her cheek. He brings up their trip and says how he is looking forward to the break. She remembers the resort she picked serves gourmet food and she mentions the truffle oil in the pasta dishes she read about in one of the reviews. Her face is inches from his.

“I’m working on it,” she says.

Delucca scoots back and stares at her book hard. It is upside down. She wishes Sarah would give her advice the way she used to, usually when Delucca was having an episode. These breaks with reality plagued her most of her life. And what she doesn’t know is how many of these conversations with Sarah could be real. She’s always had the feeling Sarah is a ghost.

Roberto hasn’t “seen” or “heard” Sarah, though Delucca would like to believe he has, and her conversations with his first wife weren’t the products of her mind when she didn’t want to do anything, like leave the house to go shopping for something as simple as a tie, or in the case of their vacation, find a pet sitter for their new puppy. At least this what her therapist says. In her last session, the therapist asked her how things were going with a real dog, instead of an imaginary one. “He isn’t helping the way my best friend thought,” Delucca said.

Delucca doesn’t know where her best friend, Marianne, is; and this has blossomed into another worry. They never talked anymore. And these problems could not be resolved by text. Marianne didn’t seem to have time for even text these days, as she is currently out of the country with her husband, George, in the middle of a revolution, somewhere…

Work in Progress A Nightmare

2022-03-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

From Working Title - Most Popular and Never Published Stories from The Avocado Grove

Draft

A Nightmare

I’m at the cafeteria again - and my teacher is telling me the same stuff he said today in class, about my bad grades. He is saying something about what getting an F means. But I don’t hear him. I’m failing, but it’s as if this is some other girl. And for a few seconds, I mute the entourage of voices in my head and wish I could go anyplace else.

But then he asks me about Dillon and if I was drinking (as if this would explain my lack of focus).

“It wasn’t like that.”

Dillon is in line and he’s ordering the same food we had on our date. (He is five or six people ahead of me, but I can smell everything he’s put on his plate, and I tell my teacher I don’t understand about the grades in class, the same way I don’t know what happened with me and Dillon.

I keep staring at the food. Why is it being served here?

I try to calm down and take deep breaths and attempt to meditate in the middle of a crowded lunchroom. Peanut butter cookies aren’t strange. But tofu chicken nuggets sit next to them, and this side dish we ate that night (the cook was thinking up a name) it sits next to the cookies; and it’s cut the same way, thick squares of a layered spinach side. Three foods are the only choices in the whole place.

“Everybody knows about Dillon,” my teacher says.

There is laughter; it is louder than a rock concert I went to when I was eight. And my mom is here. She warns me not to respond, but I don’t listen to her or anyone. I go up to Dillon (he’s in the cafeteria too) and I have this idea he will talk to my teacher about what happened on the first day of school, the date and the rape. All of my F’s will turn into A’s. And it’s as if I forget Dillon is the reason for my problem, and I don’t magically get my concentration back.

(I want to share my great epiphany and figure out how to change. I tap my teacher on the shoulder. But, he disappears).

I keep thinking today will be different. I’ll wake up, and I won’t be that girl in the dorm the first day of school, the one Dillon picked.

From Current Work in Progress - The Party Last Night?

2022-02-28T18:40:00.001-08:00

Juniper glares at Mr. Julian.

“Ouch.” He covers his face with his hands, though Juniper is across the room.

“Why can’t you be angry at Delucca?” Juniper asks. She has her own reasons. At the party last night at Delucca’s house, Delucca brought up old gossip about Juniper, and even worse, Juniper’s mom disappeared. “You gambled your future on a hot guy,” Delucca said. Delucca hadn’t said it in front of her mom, at least this is what Juniper remembers. This morning, Delucca had not been helpful in trying to find her mom. “I have my own crisis,” she said. At the time, she didn’t explain to Juniper what she meant. And some time later when Juniper came over to talk about the evening she said, “Sarah’s back,” as if a headstrong spirit were enough of an excuse to account for her behavior the day after the party and her attitude now. It didn’t account for Delucca’s otherwise complete selfishness in mostly talking about her problems with Roberto and whether or not to buy a real dog. Juniper’s mother is still missing.

“Delucca is desperate to be whatever normal is,” Mr. Julian says.

Juniper can’t believe he’s defending her friend, especially when Delucca seems to have fixed her life in a matter of hours. “Sarah’s presence doesn’t seem to be a problem for her anymore and she and Roberto are still going out of town on some resort vacation.”

“You mom vanished months ago, and everyone was drunk at that party. They don’t remember any of it.”

What he’d said about the gossip Delucca spread at the block party was true. Her friend, Vanessa didn’t remember the re-hashing of Juniper’s college trouble, though she knew about the toxic boyfriend and the rumors about rape.

Everyone did.

“The party wasn’t months ago. It was yesterday.” Juniper says.

A Note about the Current Work in Progress

2022-01-31T10:51:00.001-08:00

I’m working out the timeline in the current work in progress: When Mrs. Johnson Disappeared. This is the follow up to the short-story “Girls Outside” featured in Stories from the Grove. When I started writing, I imagined a six month gap between the party at Roberto and Delucca’s house until the current story, with flashbacks to what happened after the party to Mrs. Johnson. But it seems a much shorter time period may work better, for example a couple of days to a week. Maybe even hour by hour.

Here’s where the characters are on their journeys:

Mrs. Johnson is staying at a house not far from where she disappeared. She has amnesia and is largely invisible. She is stuck on the idea that she will find her way to where she belongs by swimming.

Juniper, Mr. Julian, Roberto and Delucca are all unlikely guests at Cliff’s house for a dinner party, along with a ghost and a hex. But all of the couples (Juniper and Julian, Roberto and Delucca are on the outs). Cliff competes for Juniper’s attention again. Mara, the hex, turns into a life coach.

WIP - Mrs. Johnson at the Dennis’ Party

2021-11-30T07:07:00.002-08:00

“Do you think you can find the number for Papa John’s?” Roberto asks.

It’s ridiculous the way Delucca’s husband calls her out in front of all the people at their party. Mr. Johnson talks like that to me. But she shouldn’t have stood there and taken it in front of the guests and acted like nothing was happening. What does Delucca do? She pours more wine into everyone’s glass and brags about its excellence (as if a vineyard’s good performance can make-up for her lack, at least in the eyes of her husband). And then she gushes about their dog.

Most of the neighbors know Daisy is an imaginary friend.

Incredible.

And this is the other thing, my daughter Juniper’s roommate, Sherry, from college is here with her future fiancé. Juniper isn’t getting married anytime. In the middle of this fiasco of burned dinner and imaginary dogs, I see my daughter across the yard talking to Marianne’s girl. I know I’m not being kind when I say this, but Juniper doesn’t need the gossip of being associated with her. Vanessa has a kind of mental disorder where she sees people that aren’t real. Should I stop meddling? I concentrate on the silliness Delucca preaches about dinner, dogs, and marriage.

“Where is Daisy?” Sherry asks.

Delucca says something unintelligible and pours another round. I try to warn Sherry the dog isn’t real, but she doesn’t seem to get it. Delucca has won her and her fiancé, Dillon, over to the idea about asking for a puppy as part of their registry. “Puppies,” Delucca says, “are easy to train. You just need the right cage.”

“Speaking of prisons,” I say. “When is Roberto going to release you from the kitchen?”

Delucca laughs and pours more wine in my glass until it overflows. “Didn’t you hear? His food burned. We’re ordering pizza.”

This is the last thing I remember….

It’s strange the way your mind works when it’s swimming in alcohol. The street sign in front of me says Meditation.. It isn’t any street I recognize. I have it in my head I must keep walking until I find a place I know. Then I’ll find my way back.

Characters based on “Girls Outside” from Stories from the Grove by L.A. Wolfe.

From The Avocado Grove Emily

2021-10-31T06:06:00.001-07:00

This was originally published in November 2015. Going into the holidays and my husband and I are counting carbs. We are most looking forward to the company.

Outer Layers

The girls in front of me in the lunch line debate the nutritional merits of a brownie versus an Oreo in terms of fat grams. On my tray I have both the brownie and the Oreo along with a cheeseburger and fries.

“Shut up about fat grams,” I say. I almost get into things with Brownie and Oreo. But “Excuse me, ladies,” intervenes. He has the kind of skin that tans dark in the sun, his hair is short, almost black, and though I try not to notice, he has these teen idol brown eyes.

I look down at my tray and reconsider all of my food, especially the cookies. If I could, I’d find a way to disappear from the line and melt into the pea soup cafeteria walls, the posters from pizza and burger restaurants and the clubs at school. Not one of those posters tells me anything about how to speak to this boy. He talks first and I don’t hear Brownie and Oreo after that. “You into Rush?” He asks.

I glance up from the desserts long enough to see he smiles at me and not in the leering predatory way some boys do. But he smiles like someone I would like to know. “They’re awesome,” I say. Rush’s music filters through headphones that dangle from his neck. I think I hear the word, “Subdivisions.” I know the song.

I smile up at him and nod in time with the beat. He has a clean and casual way. His shirts look too pressed, too neat as if his mom and dad send laundry to the dry cleaners. He is unusually confident too, but there’s no meanness like some boys wear, as if they have this outer shell, a coating of artificial toughness. This guy has none of that. He is perfect and belongs in one of those supermarket commercials around the holidays, where all the relatives gather around a long dining table with a ton of presents and a turkey as big as a whale and everyone is bubbling over.

Adapted From Fanciful Friends - December 31 Halloween

2021-09-30T15:22:00.028-07:00

December 31

8 p.m.

Outfits drape over the bed and the floor in the room. The party at Ally and Don’s is tonight. The Mean Girls are back. Attending is scarier than facing a pack of werewolves and Bigfoots.

Last year, my friends were more interested in mystical reality stories about Marianne’s butterfly tattoo like how she hasn’t been the same since my dad, George finished it. I told them it was the ink and the pattern of the colors that made the charm. “The butterfly is spooky the way it watches you,” I said. “It’s eyes are open all the time, it never sleeps. Have you checked out its teeth?”

Ask anybody in the Grove, they would tell you George’s tattoo shop used to sit next to South Side, the sports bar. There’s nothing next to South Side now. But last year, it was the most popular place in town. If you ask Marianne what happened, she’ll tell you about a curse.

I don’t remember what Marianne said about the curse, or the book where it came from. But, if no one is interested in whether the butterfly doomed George’s old business, I could make something up about the malediction and tell everyone it made Marianne and Don have an affair.

WIP - Another Ghost in Roberto and Delucca’s House?

2021-08-31T07:58:00.020-07:00

“It isn’t Sarah,” Roberto says. “She would never wear teensy athletic shorts and exercise shirts.

“She blocks me too,” Mr. Julian says. And when no one understands what he means he says, “She’s very strong. I’m surprised she appeared.”

“It isn’t my mother,” Juniper says. “She wants to have the body to wear that kind of outfit, but it isn’t her style.”

The room grows quiet. Juniper remembers more about her mom’s obsession with becoming thin and her attempts at group exercise before her disappearance from Delucca and Roberto’s party several months ago. By now, everyone knows the rumor about Chabichou, the yoga teacher and Juniper’s mom, Mrs. Johnson isn’t true. Chabichou tells people they were never together and seems to spread the news whenever and wherever he can. Juniper considers this insulting, especially since she heard him say, “Renee is not into exercise.”

Juniper reminds her boyfriend about the gossip. “Don’t you think Chabichou is suspicious?” She asks.

“Maybe he’s protecting his ego?” Mr. Julian says.

At dinner, the four of them discuss the possibilities of another “ghost” in Delucca and Roberto’s house besides Sarah. Was she an athlete? Or just wearing gym clothes when she died? And why would she be in Delucca’s and Roberto’s house anyway? No one, not even Mr. Julian knows the answer, and Sarah’s not ready to leave. Mr. Julian has asked her.

The unlikely friends eat at a Greek restaurant. Here they share stuffed grape leaves, Moussaka, and a plate of mini fried doughnuts for dessert. It’s the kind of place that still feels exotic in the Avocado Grove where most gravitate towards pizza, burgers, and barbecue.

Delucca whispers to Juniper about her new relationship with Mr. Julian. “Are you having fun?” She asks.

“Yes, last week we ate Indian food with our hands.” She tells Delucca she wishes she could afford to take Mr. Julian to a fancier place than a drive-thru burger joint.

“We’re going out of town,” Delucca says. “Do you want to house sit?”

“Don’t forget about the dog,” Roberto says. “He’s a puppy, we’ll pay you extra if you take care of him.”

There is chatter for a few minutes about their new pet. They really bought and from where and what possessed them, after Delucca made up a dog last year.

Characters based on “Girls Outside” from Stories from the Grove by L.A. Wolfe available at Amazon.

Excerpt from the book Stories from the Grove

2021-07-31T08:09:00.004-07:00

Emily avoids Jillian’s gaze, and yet she hopes the psychic connects with her boyfriend. She wonders what his funeral was like, it happened before they met. Emily sees images of people gathered, tons of black, and lots of crying or not crying. But Emily doesn’t have any paranormal ability. In the session, Jillian told Grizzly, “Emily will have more shoes than your sister, but I see a tragic accident.” Jillian knows nothing. But Grizzly is hoping to hear more happy visions of riches and ghostly visits.

“Maybe we need to hear lies to feel we are living,” Emily says.

“The story is true,” Grizzly says, “ A ghost came by the house.” She throws her daughter a look as if to say, are you trying to mess this up?

“Emily’s anger might be a root cause, why these ghost loves show up,” Jillian says.

“I could be psychic the way she goes on about our history,” Emily says.

“Quiet,” Grizzly says.

“I’m getting a flash, an image of something.” And then the mystic’s eyes gloss over and she looks as if she’s in a trance or concentrating hard. “Everyone is in shock.”

From the short story, “Psychic Interventions,” from Stories from the Grove.

2021-07-31T07:34:00.002-07:00

Stories from the Grove

2021-06-30T16:39:00.002-07:00

The book is free on Kindle Unlimited. And is also available in paperback.

I hope you enjoy!

Conversation with Mara

2021-06-05T14:23:00.032-07:00

This is an excerpt from a work in progress. The character, Mara, has been updated from "Mrs." in the earlier version posted last year.

"I've been spending a lot of time gawking at cake tasting," Juniper says.  "Do you think I’m strange?"

  Mara wrinkles her nose. “What do you think about hummus, olives, and whole grain pita bread for lunch?

"I'm a better core instructor than a nutritionist," Juniper says.  "My mom is on a pizza diet. She thinks it will make her skinny."

"Is she having any luck?"

Juniper shrugs.  "The slices are getting tinier." She wishes she had her mom's confidence in trying new things, like the idea of eating delivery pizza to fix a weight problem. This extends to her mom’s easygoing attitude towards paranormal professionals, and Juniper thinks about the psychic next to the Publix.

Juniper wonders what Mara or Delucca would say about what to do with the candy in her cabinets. (Treats she doesn't remember buying). She’s figured out how to make meals where the sugary flavors enhance the food, like recipes for sweet potatoes with Snickers bars instead of marshmallows. And she eats more dinners at her parents because her taste buds have gone into sugar shock and sometimes she's too creeped out by the unexpected treats to eat alone.  "I'm on a Domino's diet too," Juniper says.

"That's because you're a work-out instructor," Mara says.  "Fitness apps never tell me the right calorie counts, and I don't eat pizza, unless it's one of those frozen diet kinds."

Juniper nods her head. And then she says, "my favorite cheat is flat bread with olive oil and tomatoes. "It's a secret the stars keep, while they tell everyone else to eat meat.” And Juniper goes into more details about the pizza diet and how it started.

Mara makes lunch appear in ten minutes from Juniper doesn’t know where. Anything near the fitness club takes at least thirty. Juniper isn’t sure why she seems interested in her. From what Juniper overhears from a few of the older women in her class, most of their lives revolve around divorce, demented older parents, and grown-up children who to some extent suffer from a kind of dementia too. Mara seems almost desperate for company. And maybe why Juniper agrees, even though she prefers to eat alone.

"I don't approve of lurkers," Mara says.

This is odd, Juniper thinks.  I hardly know you, and you’re acting like my mother.

"Most people are supportive," Juniper says. "Even my therapist." Though Patti never sanctioned stalking.

Scene - Emily in Jillian's Office before the Party at Chu's

2021-02-28T14:41:00.001-08:00

Emily smells hot chocolate, her eyes close. She’s afraid to open them. If she does, she’ll leave the birthday party that hasn’t happened yet, and she might miss her boyfriend. She hears the psychic put on her coat. And it is as if Jillian reads Emily’s mind about the drink. Emily’s eyes get wide as if she knows what Jillian knows, but only for a few seconds. If life worked perfectly, Emily discovers the great secret about how to communicate with a ghost and how to eat the free food at Chu’s when she isn’t really there. Isn’t Jillian supposed to teach her this kind of stuff? She imagines Jillian isn’t making a Keurig hot cocoa but is in the future and sipping the chocolate at Chu’s house.

Emily sits in a foggy reality between the empty party and Jillian’s office. She’s plopped down at a picnic table in Chu’s yard, and she sees her boyfriend, the same as she did at her Aunt Ally’s house last year. He stands in an imaginary line at the pizza truck and brags about his new car like he is talking to a group of his best friends. He even lounges at Emily’s picnic table. As a spirit, he exists in all of these places at the same time. Her expectations rise, and she believes everything her mom Grizzly believes about the power of psychics. Except her boyfriend never talks to her. Emily moves to sit next to him and make eye contact. She isn’t sure why he doesn’t see her, and she turns to ask Jillian, but Jillian seems to be hyper-focused on something else going on that has nothing to do with the spirit world.

WT - Holidays and Reflection about the Characters

2021-01-31T11:18:00.020-08:00

Yellow bread, snowy cookies, and fudge brownies are missing. Sparkly, cheerful friends for psychological health are absent too. Stress and worry about disappearing looks and dwindling bank account shuffle into the room like bullies. But a chilled, pink fizzy drink comes into view. It is the last one.

“Can I have that?”

“Sure.”

Thinking about what characters from the Grove would be in this tiny story. It reminds me most of Ally and Don. Many people filter in through their house during the day, even during a pandemic. Ally’s son, Thom, is still in elementary school and most likely home a few days a week. Though he should be in junior high, if I aged him properly with the length of the blog. Emily might be in the house too; she dies and comes back to life depending on the story. And Emily has been known to drink. There’s also Grizzly (Emily’s mom) she’s gone through the beer chilling in the refrigerator.

Vanessa lives on the block and likes to sneak inside Ally and Don’s in a couple of stories. Perhaps she has stolen their hard alcohol.

Ally hopes if it was Vanessa, she wore a mask to protect them from Covid. She’s been reading the virus hangs around in the air from an infected person. And if they don’t wear a mask, well, you know the rest. You might get sick and die.

Ally considers her mortality a lot. Maybe why she ate most of the baked goods in the house and had such a sugar rush, she can’t remember it? I don’t know. But Don letting her have the last of the hard seltzer is his style.

The Party

2020-12-31T08:11:00.001-08:00

Short Excerpt Adapted from the short story “Blue Dreams”

Marianne makes a comment about the weather and wonders if the party will be cancelled.

The wind picks up, the edge of the table cloth shimmers in the breeze, goblets fall over and plates flip into the pool. The gusts get stronger, but no one comes out and fixes anything. And we watch a lot of stuff blow away. We are caught up in the drama. Marianne swears she heard a fight going on. But I only hear the wind.

Later there are twinkling lights and sounds of celebration. There is music playing and a ton of people. Marianne says she doesn’t mind if I walk over.

WT- Rumors about Mickey

2020-10-31T08:27:00.001-07:00

Emily and Big Sister on Emily’s tour of Mountain College and a conversation about her ghost boyfriend, Mickey.

“Would you let it go,” Big Sister says. She reminds me Jillian can’t see Mickey in her visions.

Maybe Big Sister is right?

“There was dinner,” Big Sister says. “And because you bailed early, you got nothing, there’s no place to eat on this campus.” She reminds me again how big a fool I am. “The cheerleader, no one ever talks about her. He totaled her car, made her dead, but you don’t see her around haunting people.”

“The latest I’ve heard is Mickey hangs around the Denman cafeteria.”

Big Sister huffs. She isn’t impressed by my ghost stories how Mickey attended graduation last year and played in the band, dripped sweat like all the other band members, and after gobbled up celebration cake. “And then there’s my aunt.”

“Swears she confronted a ghost and remembers his scar?” Big Sister says.

I nod my head. I’ve told Big Sister this story a dozen times about when Mickey came by my house and my aunt blamed him for our problems, but the interesting thing about my aunt’s version is she doesn’t believe in ghosts or anything paranormal. She refuses to meet with Jillian, the psychic, even though I’ve asked her a dozen times to go with me.

“Wasn’t she drinking? No one stopped by the house like Ally says looking mean and then disappearing as she watched.”

Hot food keeps me from arguing the point with Big Sister. I search for something better than a cold, chicken salad wrap, after skipping the tour.

“Eat the sandwich,” Big Sister says.

I’m thinking about it. And even though we stop talking rumors about Mickey, the big one spread by Gitt Roberts to a crowd of her friends as they cozied up at her house eating meatloaf is about how I believe Mickey is my ghost boyfriend. (Only this isn’t a rumor, it’s true). He asked me to prom. The thin, wicked line above his lip quivered a little. But like Big Sister said, it’s not the time to get into it.

WT - Samples

2020-09-30T15:00:00.002-07:00

Don blames the Internet for Emily’s fixation with spirits and asks the cake girl about sprinkles. He pops samples and texts pictures of fancy frosting behind glass.

“You shouldn’t put how old.” The freckled face of the cake girl looks over at Emily. “Your daughter should be in this discussion and not on her phone.” And a few seconds later she asks, “What did she say? Three-way call a ghost using a psychic? Does that work?” The cake girl says it as if she expects Don to ask Emily about what she just heard.

Emily shakes her head and continues her conversation with Juniper about ghost boyfriends. She tells Juniper Grizzly's idea to invite Jillian, the psychic to read fortunes almost got them kicked out, again. And she doesn’t understand what gets into her aunt sometimes. “Although, Jillian isn't my favorite person, she would have made the party fun," Emily says.

“But what about that awful prediction she gave you?” Juniper asks.

“Jillian tries to be professional,” Emily says. "Except when she invites herself over for dinner."

Emily notices the cake girl could be her age, and they share the same bleached blonde hair. And as much as Emily is unhappy with her Aunt Ally, Ally doesn't deserve the way Don flirts. He eats the samples and they talk, the cake girl has cut up an entire cake. (Although Emily isn’t sure where the line is, when a couple of bites becomes too much, but there’s something hedonistic about an entire cake, like it’s one of those indulgences done in private either alone or with someone you care about).

"Evilness of the Internet," Don says. "There is a fight about my sister-in-law coming." And then, Don says, "Sugar, what time do you get off?"

Emily imagines driving the car over to her ghost boyfriend's house. (She's been trying to three-way call Mickey using the psychic, but so far it hasn't worked). Juniper says she and Cliff aren't back together, but they shared a pizza. Juniper didn't say much more about the date with Cliff, and Emily didn't ask. The girl offers the last sample to Emily.

“Do you think your mom will like it?” She asks. It’s a skinny piece, barely any frosting.

“Too sweet,” Emily says.

“Is Grizzly going to Ally’s party?" Juniper asks.

"I mentioned Jillian at dinner and talked about finding Mickey in psychic visions, and Ally got quiet.”

When Don and Emily arrive home, Ally stays upstairs in her room, but Thom races inside. He asks Emily if she saw her boyfriend in the driveway and goes on about a red sports car and no one inside. And then he shows her the pictures from Don with the cars all over his mom’s cake.

Excerpt from Current Work in Progress - A Conversation Why Cliff is Back in Town

2020-08-31T09:10:00.002-07:00

This is an excerpt from the current work in progress.

“I never told you I was coming to dinner,” Juniper says.

“That ex-girlfriend of Cliff’s is hard to compete with, not that you shouldn’t have won,” Mrs. Johnson says.

Juniper smells vanilla in her apartment. The odor reminds her of a terrible date in college, a perfume she wore. She connects it with stress of any kind, like the conversation about Cliff's ex. Maybe this kind of chat is to blame for the reason she hallucinates the scent and why it has expanded to include coconut and caramel.

“Fine.  Why is he back in town?” Juniper asks.

Though she isn't sure she wants to hear the answer. She doesn't want to add any more to her growing list of worry. And she doesn't want to imagine a world where a boyfriend Cliff might want her back.

“She broke up with him.”

The odor of vanilla, a hint moments ago as if someone had lit a candle in the kitchen where Juniper stood has now enveloped the room and smells like caramel apples roasting at the last fair she'd ever went to, and all the places she could never have imagined sticky goodies being in her apartment like underneath the couch, behind her pillows, and buried deep in boxes of clothes she never wears, these are the spaces she imagines treats.  Juniper shuffles around the room (she’s still on the phone) listening to her mom go on about the dinner, but she’s not hearing everything mom is saying. She remembers more about her awful date in college. They talked about amusement parks but they did not go to one, and other than that, she isn't sure why she sees a fairground in her thoughts or why candies she did not buy show up from out of nowhere.  Her eyes are on the bag of Brach's in her sock drawer, and she asks, “Do you know what a hex is?”

“Is that some kind of curse?  We played with ouija boards in high-school. Is it like that?” Mrs. Johnson says.

“How much does your psychic charge?” Juniper asks.

“Free,” Mrs. Johnson says.

“Isn’t he the guy Emily’s mom used to date?”

On the Way

2020-08-02T13:50:00.001-07:00

This is a submission for the July 53 Word Story Contest.

On the Way

People you have not seen in ages. Movie stars. Their colorized snapshots nestle next to seashells look like something out of old biology texts. Lobsters the color of bright apricot swim in front of you on the way to where you are going or on the way back from where you have been.

53 Word Story Contest

Whatever Wedding You Want

2020-07-19T08:29:00.007-07:00

Originally published 7/19/20

Edited 5/27/22

This is an excerpt based off Imagine.

Are you gambling, going on a retreat with friends? The World asks. Vegas is also for families.

Emily pushes through the front door. Her face full of possibilities.

"Ally and I are getting married," Don says.

"Congratulations," Emily says.

Her smile is bright, too bright.

"Maybe we’ll do Vegas, or find a fancy resort close to here, do you and Grizzly want to come?"

He doesn’t hear Emily’s answer, though he sees her mouth moving. A thousand thoughts race through his head, the first thought or feeling is he's desperate. Whatever Emily says now about her mother, Grizzly and whether they go is secondary. Where will he and Ally get married, and what will Ally do if her sister goes on the trip? He feels as if he and Ally have changed places, and he's playing her part fussing over plans.

He turns his attention to the television again. The mighty World doesn't have answers. The World doesn't say it's a mistake to get married. Don takes this as a good sign and listens to all the things he should do in Vegas, but none of it makes any sense, and he asks god. (There is only one he knows, though he has heard of others). Google narrows down his choices to highly rated, four or five-star resorts by the sea, that easy drive away. Siri tells him, Ask Alexa which one she wants.

"A break from the planet," Alexa says. And she tells Don other things he never heard from Ally before about her first marriage. A DJ played the wrong music and their cake, “It was so dry they never ate the top,” Alexa says. But all he thinks of is how Ally looked when he asked. It wasn't anything like his daydreams. It was more like Emily's face, when she walked in the door.

Original Version published 7/19/20

Don shuffles downstairs and celebrates with a beer and a favorite sandwich, roast beef, cheese, and pickles. The pickles are an addition after Thom's last birthday. The cake was one big car, and it reminds him of leftover cake in the refrigerator from Ally's party, and he has a piece of that too. He flips through channels searching for sense. What just happened? One beer turns into two. His lady from the Travel Channel turns into a world with a wife and kids. The World knows everything about Vegas except why Don goes there.

Are you gambling, going on a retreat with friends? The World asks. Vegas is also for families.

Emily pushes through the front door. Her face full of possibilities.

"Ally and I are getting married," Don says.

"Congratulations," Emily says.

Her smile is bright, too bright. "We're going to Vegas. Tell Grizzly we need you to watch Thom."

He says the part to Emily about looking after Thom, and she says, "But I want to go and you know my mom."

"Maybe we won't do Vegas, we'll find a fancy resort close to here, do you still want to come?" A thousand thoughts race through Don's head, the first thought or feeling is he's desperate, and he doesn't hear Emily's answer, though he sees her mouth moving. He doesn't care. Whatever Emily says now about Grizzly and whether they go or not is secondary. Where will he and Ally get married, and what will Ally do if Grizzly goes on the trip? He feels as if he and Ally have changed places, and he's playing her part fussing over plans.

The mighty World doesn't have answers about how to talk to a wife. He doesn't say it's a mistake to get married. Don takes this as a good sign and pays attention to all the things he should do in Vegas, but none of it makes any sense in his situation, and he asks god. (There is only one he knows, though he has heard of others. Google narrows down his choices to highly rated, four or five-star resorts by the sea, that easy drive away. Siri tells him, Ask Alexa which one she wants.

"A break from the planet," Ally says. And she tells Don other things he never heard before about a DJ that played the wrong music even when she and Frank reminded him about the playlist. And a cake so dry they never ate the top.

But all he thinks of is what she said when he asked. It wasn't anything like the fat girl rushing towards him in his daydreams or the way Emily's face looked when she walked in the door. And he tells Ally what god said, in Vegas, "You can get whatever wedding you want."

Conversations with Mrs.

2020-06-25T13:19:00.021-07:00

This is from the current work in progress featuring Juniper.

"I've been spending a lot of time on FaceBook gawking at wedding food," Juniper says. "Do you ever do this?"

And just like Juniper's other friend, How's Life, Mrs. and Juniper share a laugh. Also, like How's Life, Mrs. and Juniper haven't made it to first names yet. Juniper has thoughts about why this is. She remembers How's Life could go on tangents about her search for a dog, but she always came back to something Juniper said about her problems and tried to offer helpful advice. Mrs. is different, she acts as if she doesn't know what FaceBook is, either that or the idea of wedding food turns her off. Instead, Mrs. asks about the maximum calories a day for women and whether following a Mediterranean plan is a good thing.

"I'm a better teacher than a nutritionist," Juniper says. "But you should meet my mother. She's on a pizza diet. She thinks it will make her skinny."

"Is she having any luck?"

Juniper shrugs. "The slices are getting tinier."

Juniper wonders what Mrs. would say about the peanut butter in her cabinets. Most of the time, she gives it away, but sometimes she's figured out how to make meals where she can't tell it's in there, kind of like those recipes with prune puree where it substitutes for the butter or the fat. And she eats more dinners at her parents because she's scared of being in her apartment by herself. "I'm on a pizza diet too," Juniper says. "Take-out."

"That's because you're a work-out instructor," Mrs. says. "I don't eat pizza, unless it's one of those frozen diet kinds."

Compared to Mrs., her mom always appears to be having a good time, like the pizza secret she's convinced her neighbor brought with her from wherever it was they came - which she is convinced is someplace exotic like California. She eats pizza and stuffs marshmallow fluff between graham crackers for dessert, I swear I've seen her do it. It's a secret the stars keep, while they tell everyone else to eat meat and skip the potatoes.

Juniper should have said no to lunch. But Mrs. looks like her mom, except unlike Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. seems lonely and almost desperate for a friend. And she makes salads appear in ten minutes from Juniper doesn't know where. Anything near the fitness club takes at least thirty. Juniper isn't sure why Mrs. seems so interested in her, Mrs. didn't say why. But this isn't the kind of question Juniper feels comfortable asking, it feels rude, and from what Juniper overhears from a few of the other women in the group, from passing conversations, most of their lives center around coping with divorce, demented older parents, and grown-up children who to some extent suffer from a kind of dementia too. They are so busy with their own lives, they forget we exist.

Absaroka Pizza

2020-05-23T06:28:00.003-07:00

The current work in progress features Juniper, Cliff, and Dillon as well as Gitt and Chu. This is an excerpt from Imagine.

Absaroka is a tiny pizza chain. There are only a few restaurants like her in the whole country. And there is a good one, an easy walk from Juniper Johnson's old dorm, at the college she used to attend. Dillon and Juniper never lasted long enough to go there for one of their pies. And this is a good thing. This the place Juniper ended up after sour milk and cold cereal for weeks on end after Dillon, and where Dillon's then-girlfriend said the same thing had happened to her, it just took a few more dates.

"Can't you order from Google?" Mrs. Johnson asks.

Juniper's mom wants pizza, for breakfast, she wants to be thin like the new neighbor - she's always eating pizza, and she looks fantastic. Mrs. Johnson believes it's some new dieting craze. But she doesn't know how to use the Internet to research whether 'pizza' will help her lose weight or how to find where the neighbor gets her pizza. Mrs. Johnson thinks Google is Amazon. She asks Juniper to call.

"Don't you think it's what they put on the pizza?" Juniper says.

But her mom doesn't answer back.

No one answers at Absaroka pizza, even though an old phone book advertises it. They don't show up on Google maps, but you can't tell Juniper's mom that, print means they're here. Besides, the phone rings at the Absaroka, and Juniper's mom insists it's in town. Juniper worries no one will pick up the phone when she orders from other pizza restaurants. This is a repeating hex. (Juniper went to a party before she quit school and said a spell, Juniper's convinced whatever she did at that party against Dillon has followed her home and ruined her life). Certain days like the bad party at college repeat. And the repeating days are never good. They're days like when her friends come over and ask about the rumors, why she came home early from college, and hasn't gone back. And it's like when Cliff said he wasn't coming to her birthday party and broke up with her too.

She chickens out and orders a carry-out pie from a block away. The pie comes in a plain white box, and she writes Absaroka on it in big, letters. This satisfies Mom.

Juniper stares at the nothingness plane inside her bathroom and has dark thoughts.

How long do these hex things last? When will you go away? Will I ever be the same?

It is so loud inside Juniper's head she expects an answer. But all is quiet.

The Avocado Grove

Stories from the Grove

From Most Popular - Concessions 2

Scenes from Working Title - When Mrs. Johnson Disappeared

Work in Progress A Nightmare

From Current Work in Progress - The Party Last Night?

A Note about the Current Work in Progress

WIP - Mrs. Johnson at the Dennis’ Party

From The Avocado Grove Emily

Adapted From Fanciful Friends - December 31 Halloween

WIP - Another Ghost in Roberto and Delucca’s House?

Excerpt from the book Stories from the Grove

Stories from the Grove

Conversation with Mara

Scene - Emily in Jillian's Office before the Party at Chu's

WT - Holidays and Reflection about the Characters

The Party

WT- Rumors about Mickey

WT - Samples

Excerpt from Current Work in Progress - A Conversation Why Cliff is Back in Town

On the Way

Whatever Wedding You Want

Conversations with Mrs.

Absaroka Pizza

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