Illusionistical

Dear Phoebe,
Aden…
I have something to confess and this is no lie. But I have waited ten years too many to say what I have to say to you and now such words are better left on paper. Do you know the number of drafts I’ve gone through, only to have it wrinkled and washed in [...]

“Mommy, can you read me a bedtime story?”
No.
“Of course sweetie, which one would you like?”
Please not again.
“The one with the sleeping princess.”
Make her stop.
“Once upon a time…”
Once upon a time…she made him a promise. A promise of a lifetime, a promise that she vowed to keep for all eternity. If only this lifetime, this eternity, [...]

At the last note of the crickets’ faithful serenade to the moon and before the swallow’s dutiful morning call to the sun, a pair of eyes opened to reveal two large white orbs glowing on the black dusty roads against a soot darkened face. Only now did she allow herself to take full breaths of [...]

The day was Wednesday and the sun was only thirty-three minutes away from touching its flesh-burning orange-red image to the cool blue-green body of water so vast that it could only have been an ocean and nothing else. From afar, one could believe that the tourists had all left and that the day was at [...]

Once, I tried learning to ride a bike.
My parents said they would teach me and help me. So I got on my bike.
“I’ll catch you if you fall.” My dad said, holding onto the back of the bike.
Then I started to go…and I felt a hard push. “Daddy! Mommy!”
“Don’t worry, we are right behind you!” [...]

It was the first day of 3rd grade, when girls hung out with girls and boys hung out with boys. Each hung out with their own groups, while I stood alone and watched.
Some girls talked to me, but I could not comprehend. They just kept laughing, staring and pointing. But at what?
During PE, we had [...]

For the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
I sat in a dirty corner of the backyard and watched as my father swung my cousins round and round. I watched as my mother pushed my sister on the swings. I heard myself call out, “Can I play?”
And I heard that same voice echo back. A [...]