Florida, go to Florida. If you’re not going to die, why not go there, it’s warm. She laughed when she thought of being... More > packed off to the land of eternal sunshine, no snow, plenty of that in Rhode Island. She could play cards, knew how to swim, and liked people, she might try Florida. She would make the kids happy, Michael who was sixty, Gina, fifty five, and Frankie, fifty three. Couldn’t they wait a little longer, she wasn’t that rich. She kissed Marco, her dead husband goodbye at the cemetery, and got ready for Florida. When I find the gold, I’ll share it with you, she said to the man who had left her five years ago, on that snowy night in December. Don’t look for gold, that’s when you’ll find it. The plane landed in Florida, Doris Altomare touched the medal around her neck, thanking God that she had arrived. The warm rays of the sun kissed her, she smiled, she was ready to begin her search for Florida gold. < Less

Better Hide, Better Run
I’m Twenty-One, I’ve Got A Gun

“Jade Katharine Jones”, the judge calls her name. She... More > stands in front of him, sullen and disrespectful. This time she’s going to pull a good amount of time. No warnings, a slap on the wrist, they’ve run out of patience. They are going to punish her. Make an example out of a bad girl. She wants to laugh, she’ll only do it again and again. When will she learn, when will they learn? Crimes are in her blood.

They sentence her, she hears the gavel hit the wood. “So ordered”, the judge ends his speech, looks at her with contempt in his cold eyes that look as if they were coated with ice. The woman who works for the city leads her away. She’s been here before, holds her head up high. She shows no emotion, no remorse, no feelings. The door of her cell slams shut, she hears the lock, the loneliness surrounds her.



TWENTY-ONE WITH A GUN < Less

For Bob, For Sharon, For Edie
The Past, The Present, The Future



Intimate Secrets are those that you hold, buried in your... More > heart. Allison James has a secret that no one must ever hear, whispered or said out loud.

Sylvia Cohen guards the words that could destroy her dreams, send them crashing down. She holds her secrets close to her, she can’t trust sweet words and smiling faces.

Sue Ann Horner stays by herself. No one can hurt her for what isn’t her fault. She keeps her secrets, guards them like they are jewels. If no one gets close to her, she’ll be safe. She pushes people back, her secrets are safe.

Lori Peters tells her pillow at night her shameful secret. Would anyone help her? She won’t tell them and find out. Secrets are intimate, she’ll keep them to herself. < Less

Dina Mallory and Jillian Reed were best friends from the day that Jillian
found Dina sitting by herself in the school... More > library. Dina became Jillian’s
shadow, following her from one adventure to the next, always in the
background. I love roses, they are my favorite flower, Jillian told Dina. I’ll
never forget that, Dina thought as she drew a red rose. She made the dew
that fell from the rose, red instead of white. Red roses for Jillian, they
matched her fiery disposition and the color of her beautiful hair. Jillian
looked at the picture that Dina handed to her and smiled. They would have a
friendship that lasted forever, the red roses surrounded them, Dina could
smell the scent of the flowers. Jillian loved roses, Dina would cover her with
them. < Less

Three women trying to climb the glass mountain. They take a step, then another, fall back, and try again. The beauty, the... More > brain, and the talent.

Marilyn, her mother named her after the tragic movie star. The light that surrounded her burned so bright that it scorched her.

Jennifer, everyone tells her there is magic in her voice. She almost makes the climb, the last step she stumbles to the bottom.

Nicole, clever and cunning. Her quest for beauty, her anger that she never captures her elusive dream destroys her. < Less

Laura Benet, independent hit woman. She wants what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it.

Marty Fine kills with a gun, kills with words, everyone who stops him from getting what he wants. He rises up the scale to... More > the top, until he is stopped. Gangster’s proverb, there is always someone rougher and tougher than the one trying to make the climb.

Marty lives his life as if he’s in the middle of a whirlwind. The people who surround him help to tell his story. A true gangster who lives every day as if it’s his last. Bullets, explosions, blood everywhere, a violent man in a violent world. < Less

The train comes out of nowhere, a shadowy form catches the last car, almost landing on top of another shadow that is hiding... More > in the darkness. A soft grunt can be heard as they roll away from each other in the straw. A third shadow asks the newcomer for a cigarette, part of a cigar, some shreds of tobacco. He shakes his head that he has nothing for the man, if he did he wouldn’t give it to him. Three shadows come at the man, wanting to see for themselves what he has, and if it is worth taking. They trade punches, curse at each other, as the train cuts a path toward its destination. The hot August night turns the air to steam as the men gasp for it, watching for the man with the flashlight. He will throw them out of the boxcar as if they are broken twigs needing to be swept away with the garbage littering the ground. The train rumbles on through the night. The men will scatter once the light from the sun appears. They are no longer shadows, they have to wait for another midnight train. < Less

CASINO, stories set in Atlantic City and Las Vegas about gamblers and gambling. Cards, dice, slot machines, something for... More > everyone. One pull of a lever can change your life in a second. The thrill of the coins cascading downward into the silver tray, then scooped up in an oversized Dixie cup. The lights, the bells, the chance of meeting that someone standing at the roulette table. Playing blackjack until dawn, trying to score big, settling for breaking even, night after night. The glitter and glamour, the unhappiness and disappointment, it’s all found at the casino. < Less

He kicked the empty beer can into the gutter. He had started crushing them in his hands, one at a time, drinking the beer,... More > mangling the cans. The wind whipped at him, like the belt his father used, when he demanded respect from his son. Respect, he wanted to yell, you must be nuts. You’re a piece of crud, how can I respect you?

His mother had picked up this loser, when Lenny was thirteen. First she killed his real father, by working him to death, then she married this garbage; she needed a husband, he needed a man who would be a pal, while he grew up. He kept his last name, Rossiter, that’s all he had left of the man, now dead and buried, the one who would always be his father. < Less