When I drove down the lane to our cabin I could see a vehicle parked in front. I didn't recognize it. I drove past it and to the rear. I got out, opened the barn door, and then parked my van inside. Pulling the door shut I walked around to the front to check out the car. From a sticker on the windshield I could see it was a rental. When I went into the kitchen in the rear I was quiet. I was home earlier than she assumed I...

After only a few minutes on the road I turned around and drove back down the gravel road into the hollow where we lived. I tried to pull in quietly as I put the van in the barn. Then I waited a little longer, hoping Jessica would think I wouldn't be back for a long time. It had been a week. I'd tried to catch my wife playing with her friend online but I'd been unsuccessful. I don't know if I'd just been unlucky or perhaps...

It was early afternoon. I had been delivering some pottery to customers around the area. My wife and I had a small business out of our home. I had told Jessica that I'd be home around six in the evening but the trip had been quicker than I expected and I was arriving home two hours earlier than that. I parked the van in the barn. Then I got out and walked over and entered the kitchen through the back door. It was open as...

Dearest husband,     Oh, it has been such long winter, and you have been working so hard without a break. You looked tired when we talked last on Skype and I thought it would be a wonderful to get away for a few days — somewhere phones don't ring and we can be alone.   I love it when we slip away for a few days together as though we were illicit lovers. I get so excited thinking about it. Just the two of us, able to share...

"An elf? You saw an elf? You can't be serious," Sylvia almost screamed at her friend. "Julie, what in the world are you talking about? That is absolutely nuts, saying you have seen an elf. Seriously, where did this come from?"     Julie and Sylvia were still in the changing room, wrapped in towels, recovering after their weekly work-out at the gym. Looking at them, the first thing that would have struck the casual observe...

The last two years since my husband died have been very difficult for me. My friends have been kind to me, and I cannot really claim to have been lonely. In fact, at times I would have valued a little space to come to terms with my loss. What I have missed has not been company, but the physical intimacy that I so often took for granted; the loving cuddling, the touch of his hands, the sound of his voice, and above all his...