Our Lady of Fifth Avenue

I have a morning meeting with my publisher. I don’t want to be late so I leave home early. I shouldn’t have worried. Every subway I need to get over to East 53rd Street pulls up to the platform the moment I arrive. As I step aboard my subway car I notice...

It’s Scary Out There

Ring. Ring. “Cacciatores Risotorante,” a perky female voice answers. “How may I help you?” “Good afternoon,” I say. “I was wondering if you were looking for wait staff.” “I’m so sorry,” the girl says...

We Don’t Need No Stinking Soda!

“May I get you something to drink?” I ask the teetering octogenarian on table 17. “Gimme a soda with no ice,” the old woman snaps. “Of course madam,” I reply. “And I want ice on the side,” she screeches. Not so loud Grandma. Turn up the hearing aid. “Of course...

Amanda 7

My father and I are eating lunch at a TGI Fridays. It just happens to be Friday afternoon. We’re sitting next to a plate glass window fronting a busy highway. Outside the roads are already thickening with commuters. My father’s eating chicken while I...

Rio

I’m standing on an outdoor patio overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. A cool evening breeze blows in from the South Atlantic, carrying away some of the city’s heat and leavening the metropolis with the scent of the sea. Below me the beach of Copacabana...