“I ain’t the one!” His lisp and raspy voice caught me off guard. “You heard me, boss. It ain’t me. I ain’t the one who did it. And you know it!” Dealing with homelessness was something Scott was familiar with, but this man, who went by Bobby J., wasn’t the sort of person he was…

“I don’t understand what this has to do with the communications director position. Why exactly are we going to Walmart?” Scott sat in the passenger seat of the Model X while the interviewer, Fran Travers, drove, pulling into the farther spot from the front doors of the retail giant. “Because I need to pick up…

Piercings have never been my jam. Do they bother me? Never have. Never will. Even though I’ve seen my fair share of piercings that not only look like they were painful to get, but they are obviously infected! I’m trying to figure out what kind of person lets an infection get bad enough that the…

Christopher felt lightheaded. The room spun. His friends’ voices came through like echoing waves, first loud, then soft. Sweat beaded across his forehead and then on his neck. That small trickle down his neck itched, bringing him back to reality. Back to his friends and the conversation at hand. “Hold on. Say that again.” Christopher’s…

Addison was a solid employee who worked for two years at Halftime, a nonprofit organization serving special needs kids. Addison knew all about Halftime, having a younger brother on the spectrum. Addison’s family consisted of her, her brother Michael, and Addison’s mom, Francis. Everyone who knew her called her Fran or Franny. She worked hard,…

“That is the last thing I’m going to do!” Every person sitting in the waiting room heard the slam of the receiver. “Janice, get in here. Now!” The voice inside the office shouted, startling two of the three people in the waiting room. A plumber wearing bib overalls scrubbed his five-o’clock stubble. If Don Johnson…

In less than one hour, police and security cleared the block without one arrest or detainment. Not one person balked at the authorities, pushed back against security, or demanded their civil rights were violated. Newspaper reporters, journalists from various news agencies, several magazines, and three network television stations all followed instructions, with no one pushing…

Glancing down at the gravel parking lot he noticed a shellcasing, kicking it away from him. One casing wasn’t all that strange. Then, one turned into two. Two turned into four. Suddenly Lance realized he was standing in a pile of shells, the brass scattered through the gravel. Smelling gunsmoke is what dropped him to…

Broken glass. Various parts of the Element, the Ford truck, and the other two cars, both passenger vehicles, strewn through all the lanes, the bumper and headlamps from the Element lying in front of it. So, here’s my take on what happened, all formulated in less than a minute, right before I heard the sirens…

There’s something magical about telling a story. The teller directs the narrative, moving the action one word at a time. Pacing is all about choosing the right words in the correct order. Almost like removing one block at a time from a Jenga tower – you have to be careful; otherwise, the whole thing, like…