Spaces Between Some Things

Newark Penn Station, NJ
May 3, 2007
I am waiting for my coffee and so is a skinny white man. He’s my age or younger and he has big tattoos on his arms. He’s wearing a sleeveless, white shirt. There is an older, unkempt black man with an open bandanna coming out from under his baseball cap. [...]

I’m Just Afraid I Don’t Fit In Here

I came home from Thailand ten days ago and I am with Brian. Brian is three years old. We’re keeping a pink balloon in the air.  
“Mary Lorraine, what grade are you in?” Brian asks out of nowhere. He bops the balloon with his head.
“Bri,” I say mid-lounge, I punch the balloon back to his side. [...]

A Very Long Friday the 13th

This article appeared in Speak English! Magazine May 2007.
Tokyo

I am trapped in the airport in Tokyo and I don’t know what time it is. There is a mechanical problem on my flight and the passengers had to disembark. People are angry and tense. They have connections they are going to miss. Meetings they won’t [...]