My experience with shoplifting came when I was in 9th grade. After an 18-month stint living with my mother, I was glad to be back in my hometown, but it seemed different somehow. My lifelong friends had made new ones, and I didn’t like being treated as the new kid by those who had lived [...]

My advisor turned to a young boy of about nine years and said, “Now, Jimmy, when he starts goin’, you turn loose of that rope.”
I climbed a few rungs of the homemade ladder and reached high to grab the handle. This position would make anybody feel vulnerable, and I wasn’t exactly flashing my Coppertone tan. [...]

I gave her the finger, too. The “I need chewing time” finger. After finally rendering the potatoes lumpless, I swallowed. “I know, I know. I was just crunching through a bite of food. So, why, Dad?”
“Snakes.” The word slithered slowly from his mouth. I was no friend to [...]

People fall into two philosophical categories in life: stump finders and stump dodgers. You see, when it comes time for a group of kids to sled down a new hill, someone has to go first. When the snow is deep enough, you can’t see exactly what’s on that hill. The first one down usually has [...]