The thing about being a kid is that everything is so big, often bigger than in real life. Your home and neighbourhood, the bully at school, your parents … Everything but your younger sister, that is. It came up yesterday when I carried Jon on my shoulders along a dirt road here in Uganda. Am […]
So the owners called the other night. Actually they texted. Nobody calls anymore. They said I was getting too many friends, too fast. I said no, there’s a mistake, I only have three friends and two of them are our rabbits — Sam and his live-in girlfriend. No, Friends, they said again, with a capital
A billion friends can’t be wrong Read More »
He started with some small stuff, basic tricks like getting children to lay eggs, before he moved up to pulling a dove out of an empty newspaper and then making burnt money reappear. Yes, he had a way with the children — Liz, Jon and Hannah, along with 50 other kids and some adults —
Magic and miracles Read More »
It’s early in the morning on the elliptical with Handel’s Concerti Grossi Op. 3 – it’s always Handel’s Concerti Grossi Op. 3 on the elliptical in the mornings – playing as loud as possible with the windows open, one more reason I am such a top contender for the Neighbour of the Year Award. I’m
Liars, criminals … friends Read More »
I wear a wedding ring that I bought for 10 bucks at a Native trinket shop in New Mexico a couple of years ago. It’s wide and tight enough and it looks pretty okay. It’s sort of silver in colour, even though the material, I suppose, is more like tin. It has a gnarled design
Swimming in December is one of the perks of living in Africa, and besides in phys-ed at school – where they drill them quite hard – sometimes we all go to another nearby pool where I took the kids for a break the other day. Liz was showing off her dives, how small a splash
Men like to blow up bridges. This inclination began in utero. It was there where every male, by some miracle and with careful planning, managed to blow up the bridge that connects one side of his brain to the other. This bridge, known as the hippocampus, is left intact in women’s brains because when they’re
Be a man – blow up a bridge Read More »
I once dated a girl who told me that she didn’t like much of anything to do with the Narnia tales. It comes to mind, I suppose, since we’ve been recently talking about Narnia and my seven-year-old’s marital prospects. The girl couldn’t get how the Sons and Adam and Daughters of Eve could get along
Dating disappointments Read More »
