Behind the scenes

Rachel placed the legal pad beside my coffee cup as if she were serving a warrant. Seventy-nine names

The first thing Lucas Bennett noticed when he returned to North Haven was that no one asked about the Arctic.

The first time my mother-in-law criticized my cooking, I thought she was trying to help. The hundredth

“Pick it up, maid. My mother’s laundry won’t wash itself.” Evan kicked the basket just hard enough to

The old man arrived at seven-thirty every morning, just before the city bus groaned around the corner.

  The old lurcher was asleep beneath a faded blanket when Claire first saw him. Or perhaps he was

The rain had stopped, but Manchester still looked as if someone had washed all the color from it.

Franklin had been adopted three times, and each time he came back with fewer belongings. The first family

Ray came home from the night shift and nearly put his foot on a kitten. He had lifted his work boot from

The first snow of November came early to northern Ontario. It covered the roofs of Pine River Conservation