At home, I ran through the house to stand on the back porch looking north at the Ball Brothers factory, hundreds of feet away. I saw every leaf on every tree for miles around (well, almost miles), every petal and color on every flower, all the rocks in the railroad beds. I said, “Mammaw! I […]

I still take my glasses off occasionally and look at Christmas trees, just to see the sight I did before glasses. In 1992, I decorated my private-duty patient’s little Christmas tree, feeling like a 40-year-old kid. The next day, my patient was in her bed, and I was in the chair on the other side

Just before graduation from basic training in the Air Force in 1971, I learned what my next base was and what my AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) would be. My job was my second choice, Medical Service Specialist. I’d asked to be an air traffic controller to be around airplanes and very disappointed after that

Toothpaste splattered the mirror. I brushed the vomit taste off my tongue. I had hurled after riding a rollercoaster with a corkscrew turn. My cousin Taylor entered the bathroom. He smelled like his coconut tanning oil. His white T-shirt unevenly bunched over his thick right shoulder, bulked up from years of playing tennis. He stepped