CHAPTER 22 - ALONE, FINALLY After Tuyet and I had made up, the next natural thing to do was to go and see Nguyet together. We had been waiting for an opportunity for Nguyet to draw Tuyet ever since they met in Hue in March. Even though Nguyet was pregnant, she was still going to work, so we settled on a Saturday for our visit, since she could work through h...
"East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," or so wrote the illustrious Rudyard Kipling in his 'Ballad of East and West.' With all due respect to Kipling, however, the two have indeed met, and have been dancing a complicated exchange of goods, ideas and even people for many centuries now. And this cultural exchange applies to almost all...
God bless middleclass Americans because no one else will. * The consequences of this recession, soon to be depression, living life as an American citizen, God, baseball, and apple pie are replaced by unemployment, homelessness, and despair. When God doesn't answer our prayers, when Americans can no longer afford to go to a baseball game, when apple pie is...
It was my fifth time on liberty in Hong Kong. I meet this Malay special forces Sergeant at the local Brit EM club. I'll call him Gunga Din to protect the guilty. After three beers we decide to join forces, become an Army of two, go out into the environs of Hong Kong Island and do a little reconnoitering. This reconnaissance mission lasts for at least a min...
"Lorenzo. So good to see you. I was wondering when you would be so good as to call." I am Lorenzo. I am an artist. I am Hispanic and my family have lived here in California for longer than any Anglos present here today. Only the Native Americans have been here longer. I am proud of my heritage. It had been a year's time since I painted Lady Gwen portrait....
by Buck Maelstrom and Ms. Manners With a Whip It was still dark when Mark Danielson pushed aside the screen door of his condo and stepped out on the porch. A salty mist filled the air. The late September air had a hint of autumn in it, and he stood, leaning on the railing, as the sound of curlews filled the air. As he stared out at the bay, barefoot in je...
The Eighty-eighth Key Part III Chapter 20 ____________________________________ He spent his mornings at the Tagesklinik, the psychiatric day clinic in Davos, and when the sun was out he skied with 'Uncle' Avi. When she was well enough Sara joined them, and she proved to be an able skier. In the evening, Avi disappeared for hours on end; Harry assumed Avi...
Part IV Chapter 38 ____________________________________ When Callahan returned from 'sighting' Stacy and Escobar he dropped to the floor, hitting his head on the side of the piano as he fell. Bullitt stumbled free of the effect and made it to his friend's side, found a thready pulse and went to the kitchen. He found a clean glass and filled it with tap wa...
"No one will know," Shauna had said when he answered her call for him to fuck her by saying "no." "We are three hours from your girlfriend in the province and eight hours from my home what are you scared of you big wuss." His mind told him he should leave. A voice in his head kept repeating, you have created enough problems do not start again. His body too...
Jenny and I were just about to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We first met about five years prior, while working at a local gym as personal trainers as we were putting ourselves through university. Jenny taught yoga and cardio classes, while I was a one-on-one circuit and weight trainer. When we finished university, Jenny became a teacher and I b...