Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #81: Loss — As the gravity of my loss hit me, all I could do was cover my mouth in horror and utter, “Oh no.” I’d jinxed myself. I’d just been thinking earlier in the day that I hadn’t had an adventure yet, and here it was, an adventure of the worst sort. …

Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #76: Blank — Three shootings in my neighborhood this summer. A drug deal gone bad. Revenge, probably. And Sunday, Patrick* from Ghana.** He’d knock on my door, drunk. “Teach me to drive.” “My wife tells me I smell like shit.” “I was a surgeon, in Africa. Look at my hands!” “Like my jacket? $20, it’s yours.” Yelling, drunken…

Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #65: ‘Hovel’ — The witch’s hut is foreboding, just as the young woman was warned. Dead trees stand sentry over weeds and peeling paint as she cautiously makes her way to the ajar front door. Steeling herself for the worst, the young woman hesitantly steps inside. And she blinks at the hearth’s warmth…