Time had come at last — and he was late, as usual. Thought frowned from the kitchen when she saw the old man dodder from of the back of the yellow cab which’d pulled into her driveway several minutes ago. She could practically hear his joints click and wheeze as he swung his loafers onto … More Meet the Metaphysiques

The boy from our world and the man from his own crossed the blood-orange grasses stretching to the horizon of an ochre sky. The man made his way slow, searching, solemn, his feet aching with the steps of a thousand days. The boy’s feet were sore too, but he hardly felt them; he registered only … More The Circle

The sun rose imperceptible in a sky of steel wool that Saturday. Sally blinked — twice — then turned on her side, away from her boyfriend’s best impression of an elephant seal. 9:15. The clock on the nightstand glowed a feeble green. Sally indulged a grin, directed at no one but herself, as she rose … More Selkie

For JD, M, E, J, and G. In the last first days of America, when the children of the Dutch settlers still learned their mother tongues before they spoke a word of English and the old trappers could remember tricolor stripes waving where the the union jacks flew, there lived a man named Rip Van … More The Son of Rip Van Winkle