Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
No Hard Feelings
It dawned on Liv pretty quickly that driving a dump truck in heels was not optimal but the idea of being barefoot on these sticky floor mats was unfathomable. In daytime, a woman wearing a puffy-sleeved evening gown behind the wheel of dump truck would have turned heads. But, under the heavy blanket of the evening, only the orange glow of the intermittent street lights may have afforded a random passerby to raise a question or two.
By Rachel DuRossier 3 years ago in Families
A Clean Break
Sabine’s thumb worried the cover of the smooth, black notebook in her hands. It had been a gift from her father, a symbol of his acceptance—or perhaps just resignation—that his daughter was a writer. The way her mother had eyed it with those pinched ridges around her nose said she clearly had not approved of this gesture.
By Ariana Townsend3 years ago in Families
Banana Pudding
“Papa’s making banana pudding.” My cousin whirls into the back room, shouting. Everything pauses as all the children realize what has been said. Papa is known for three things: his cigarettes, his quiet demeanor, and having the best banana pudding in all of Ohio. Little bellies can barely contain themselves. We’re too young to comprehend how sick Papa is. All we understand is that he’s cooking. Our mouths begin to water as we pile out of the room and rush to the kitchen in hopes of getting the mixing bowl to devour. Excitement wells within my ten-year-old heart.
By Sydney Anderson3 years ago in Families
The Book of Good Magic
Caddie had been dreaming again. It had been a long time, since she was a child, since her nightmares had been this bad. Well, they weren’t nightmares, exactly, but they weren’t good dreams either. Nothing much happened in them, but they left her feeling unsettled, wary, like something in her brain had disconnected. When she was younger she would dream about witches, old wrinkled faces peering at her from beneath their dark hoods in the forest outside of her bedroom window. She would sit up, her pajamas clinging to the cold sweat beading on her skin, and look, trembling, out the window over her bed and into the darkness of the trees.
By Taylor Wilson3 years ago in Families
Questioning Everything
Once more, I undid the clasp around my late father’s little black Moleskine notebook, just as I had watched him do a thousand times while he was still alive. It was a little while now since he had passed after an arduous battle with cancer. The funeral was over and done. The vegetable trays and sandwich platters had stopped arriving. The random hodgepodge of visitors spanning decades of relationships had ceased. Now, it was just me and the mission I had taken on. I was determined to track down the mystery person that had left a most valuable package on my doorstep in the days following my father’s death.
By Brandon Pierce3 years ago in Families
Extraordinary Events
It’s pretty strange how two events that are polar opposites, which are both unusual and unlikely to occur, can happen in one day and cause such a stir of emotions that can pull one in so many directions. One year ago today was such a day. It was the day where I came by twenty-thousand dollars and also the day my mom disappeared. In my heart, I feel these events are connected, but I have never been able to explain them to anyone or even make sense of them myself.
By Natalia Perez Wahlberg3 years ago in Families