It was a soft morning. The sky was grey and the mist of drizzle hung around like a swarm of midges. The scrape of the windscreen wipers was the only sound as the car made its way across the county Galway countryside. Finally, the car turned into the drive of the crumbling convent, past the weather-beaten sign declaring it “Sister Mary Magdalene’s Home for Fallen Women” and as Eilish Galbraith glanced out the window from t...

"That was detestable, young man. Simply horrid. It's beyond me how you children act nowadays. I'm appalled. I have no idea what to do about it." We were in Mrs. Longtree's small sitting room that was right next to her bedroom. In this old Victorian home there were numerous rooms, including several bedrooms that she rented out, and the combination parlor and dining room where the residents could gather. This little room wa...

It was a hot summer day and the boys were out in the garage working on their bicycles. I was in the house doing some of the seemingly endless vacuuming when in came Ethan Huffington, one of the neighborhood boys. "Good afternoon Mrs. Chandler, you are looking especially lovely today," he said in his usual too polite way. Ethan had this way of talking that sounded so condescending and overly polite, it just grated on me. B...

“I told you, Ed, we shouldn't have gone out tonight. Do you see how bad the roads are? They're only going to get worse driving home.” “Everything is going to be fine, Rosemary. You just worry too much. It's the first time we've gotten everyone together since adding John as a partner in the business. From what I hear his wife, Margaret is a nice gal.” “Do they have any kids my age, dad?” I ask from the backseat of our stat...

San Diego State College had started its fall semester. I was living in a boarding house not too far from the campus. The house was an old, victorian style home that had been a farmhouse at one time, around the turn of the century. Now it was owned by a lady named Mrs. Longtree. Her family had owned the place since she was a child. She was the only living descendant. She was in her late forties.     Mrs. Longtree never too...