Stories

Flirting with the Devil (Part 2)

2012-05-13T11:57:23+00:00

I never gave my wife or my unborn child a single thought. Today was all that mattered - enough drugs for today, enough alcohol for today. Tomorrow? We will just have to deal with it when it comes.

The Spark

2012-01-02T18:57:16+00:00

There is something each of us can do that no other person can. We absolutely must do these things. Or we fall apart.

Rising To The Challenge

2011-10-08T11:49:56+00:00

When I decided to leave school for a year in search of my true path, my family never lost their faith in me. They always let me know that I was special, that I was destined for something great, and that I had such a promising future. The world, however, apparently had its own plans…

The Cancer That Cured Us

2011-09-14T12:28:01+00:00

What weight did my teenage worries and my brother’s school hardships have in the face of death? What childhood wounds and injustices that my mother felt she had suffered when she was small could not be forgotten in the light of not being able to talk to her mother ever again? And how can you keep holding a grudge against a son-in-law who held your hand in the moment of your greatest fear, no matter how disagreeable you thought him to be before?

A Lethal Phrase

2011-08-31T08:29:49+00:00

The doctor, surrounded by a medical committee, carefully reviewed the EKG and diagnosed that my uncle’s heart muscle ‘had suffered minor damage.’ I understand that a healthy heart can compensate for minor damages. But without letting the doctors finish their explanation, my uncle’s eyes grew angry. He broke out and called the whole thing outrageous. He accused the doctors of medical malpractice for not spotting his heart problem right away during his first trip to the emergency room. ‘You do not care about my health!’ my uncle yelled. ‘I could have died!’

Lily Was Here

2011-07-28T11:03:35+00:00

We all crave to be loved. We all crave to know that we matter. But even though we all share this hunger, we don’t always make an effort to satisfy the hunger of others. There are people who enter our lives and sometimes, it’s enough for us to just let them be shadows...

A Wife’s Inheritance

2011-07-22T17:05:08+00:00

Luhya customs dictate that the dead must be buried at their rural home and not in a cemetery. My husband’s body was taken to his rural home where several traditional rituals were performed. Being his legitimate wife, I had to accompany his body in a hearse. I had to sit beside the coffin. Finally, when we arrived, his body was removed from the coffin and it was laid down on a bed. That night, I had to sleep with his body and I was forced to have sex with him by his clan’s men. That was just the first ritual.

The King’s Speech

2011-06-27T21:08:30+00:00

I remember that I was a good reader in the lower grades at school. I think it was the third grade. The teacher would call on me to read, as an example for the other students to follow. Apparently I was the goal everyone was to reach. But one day, I couldn’t read....

Like Two Goths in a Pod

2011-06-13T19:20:38+00:00

He would quote a passage from the Book of Satan and I would counter it with a verse or two from the Bible! What fun it was! And at no time did any religious wars beak out between us. I’m still amazed that my friend, who was very vocal about his alternative beliefs, respected the fact that I was a Bible-believing, Jesus-following Goth...

Rising To The Challenge

2011-06-13T19:16:59+00:00