stephanie482's profile

She sat at the desk, her hair in a bun and a grim look of menace on her face. If she recognized me, she never let on. Every instinct of my being seemed to be screaming “Run,” but I kept my wits about me, met her evil eyes with my own, and slipped into the desk she had indicated. It was the first day of junior high, and the woman who had made my entire summer miserable was now, if looks could be trusted, my new English teacher. They had moved in next door to us just after Memorial Day. The new...

I was eleven the summer the new neighbors moved in. They had no children, they drove boring cars, and they were not the friendliest sort. He wore tank tops and baseball caps, yet smoked expensive cigars. She always wore her hair in a bun, and yelled at my brother and I when we rode our bikes on the sidewalk in front of her house. He left every morning, and returned every evening. She never seemed to go anywhere. Once, when my mother ventured across the hedge to invite her in for coffee, she c...

The last time I saw Kevin alive was December 19, 1999 - eight years ago tonight. I only allow myself to think of him one time a year. Any more than that, and I'd fall apart. I’ve never tried to write about him before. Maybe eight years is long enough - maybe the wounds have scabbed over. God knows, eight hundred years wouldn't be enough for them to heal. Kevin had gotten sick in March. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in May. By September, it had spread all throughout his body, and the chemo wa...

Most of us, as productive members of society, try very hard to uphold the various laws and ordinances of our own respective towns and states. What most of these laws boil down to is a) Don’t steal; and b) Try really, REALLY hard not to kill anyone. Recently, my father and I were having lunch, and he mentioned, pursuer of useless information that he is, that in California, it is illegal for a seagull to drop mussel shells on a public road. I rolled my eyes at him, continued to eat, and eventua...

Since September of 1997, when an unsuspecting woman found out that coffee was, in fact, hot, this country has been riddled with lawsuits, some more valid than others. In response to this legal mania, companies have been forced to put an increasing number of warning labels on their products, to keep themselves safe from suit. However, I am beginning to think they have gone a bit overboard. The idea for this article began when we moved into a new house, with a new kitchen range. While baking a ...