Saint Joseph School

Of all the things I don't like, this is the worst.

The bell rings and class ends. We all stand, gather our books and conversation rises like a staircase around me, building itself in the air like a helix I have to navigate through. I go as slowly as I can, letting everyone stream ahead in a skirl ...

Darkness dappled her gray as an apaloosa, sliding like a caress over the smoothness of her arms.

She picked her way across the grass, curling her bare toes in the close cropped density. It felt good, as cool as silk as she walked. What passed for sleep now wasn't what she thought she remembered ...