Category Archives: Fresh ‘N Ready

She was the only black woman at our college party. Tall, muscular, with bittersweet chocolate skin and striking brown eyes that pinned you, like daggers, to your own truth. Everyone noticed Shanti, especially my white Catholic boyfriend. We sat in … Continue reading →

We threw open the windows. Our skin baked in the hot summer sun. Sweat soaked our shirts, cooling our backs in the swimming southern heat. We were a crop of do-gooder church Caucasians in our stride, riding down to Greenwood, … Continue reading →

Our high school homeroom had four black students out of 21. Some homerooms had five, or six. Nobody was officially counting, but everyone knew what was happening. Our formerly all-white high school had new feeder schools. There was no busing … Continue reading →

I moved the nozzle along the baseboard, soaking each crevice with a clear spray of liquid. The brand name was D-Con, but Dad said the main ingredient was pyrethrin. In Latin, I’d learned, the root word ‘pyra’ meant ‘funeral fire.’ … Continue reading →

During the winter, the Koones let their two cats shit on the basement floor when it was too cold to leave them outside. The Koones lived one block down from us and they had four kids. My brother Allan said … Continue reading →

We sat at the kitchen table having supper. Walter Cronkite was on in the living room, and my parents watched the TV through our kitchen wall cutout. “More trouble,” Dad said. I glanced up from my book, The Shy Stegosaurus. … Continue reading →

We parked outside a house with drooping gutters and a broken porch railing. Mom grabbed Dad’s lunch box off the front seat. “I swear he’d forget his pants if I didn’t remind him.” She got out, shut the door, and … Continue reading →

They jumped Double Dutch, while we jumped single line. They were wiry, athletic, and they kicked up their legs so high between the dicing ropes that sometimes we saw their underpants. We were always orderly. We jumped one at a … Continue reading →