The Early Appointment

July 15, 2022July 14, 2022 / roughwighting / 180 Comments

I asked for an early appointment, but not too early. I wanted the doctor to be fresh, but not still yawning from his night’s sleep. I wanted the nurse to still be enthusiastic about the patient, not looking at her watch to see how long before lunch, or before she got to escape home, take off her scrubs, and pull on her shorts and t-shirt.

“9:30,” the scheduler suggested, and I grabbed it like a life preserver in the ocean. Everything will be easy because I got the perfect time. Continue reading →

It Shouldn’t Work That Way

July 1, 2022June 30, 2022 / roughwighting / 122 Comments

Remember how I told you I didn’t want to live with you? I needed my own space, my own home before I made one with you.

I meant it.

But you didn’t believe me. Or, you believed me, but you needed me to make a home with you. To create a space together. Continue reading →

A Donut Vacation

June 17, 2022June 17, 2022 / roughwighting / 149 Comments

I remember the trip to the mountain more than the mountain itself.

Once a year, my brother and I are awakened at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. We stumble in the back seat of the 4-door Pontiac with pillows and blanket and sleep off and on for the next two and a half hours. But I only doze. The excitement of what is ahead is too stimulating for sleep. Continue reading →

What do YOU think?

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022 / roughwighting / 116 Comments

Has it been a month already? A month since the unthinkable happened? A month since my life, and yours, and his, and hers, and all of ours, changed irrevocably. A month since the sky opened and the inconceivable occurred, but truly, it wasn’t improbable.

People have been forecasting this for years, decades, centuries. The only surprising thing is how long it took. Continue reading →

The Keeper

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022 / roughwighting / 119 Comments

Georgie met the perfect man.

Well, of course, he couldn’t be perfect. He was a man: stubborn, moody at times, and he insisted on balancing his checkbook on Friday evenings.

But still. Travis was kind, thoughtful, nice-looking, and for some reason, he almost automatically fell in love with Georgie.

So it only took three weeks, instead of her usual two months, to consider sleeping with him. But Travis gave her a strange warning: “I’ve been told I make funny noises when I sleep.”

Continue reading →