Author Archives: maryangelis

Thanksgiving Day, 2004. “There’s just the one bus for today,” frets the driver. “Goes around both the routes.” “Both scenic routes for the same low fare?” I tell her. “What’s not to like!” Her troubled look brightens right up. “You … Continue reading →

The house was a plain white clapboard, built in 1930 give or take, insulated with a layer of horsehair embedded in the plaster. At $250 per month, my studiolette was a cozy work/sleep room lined up with a smaller kitchen … Continue reading →

“We called you The Fish,” he told her, when the storm was over. He was one of six bright young grad students with privileged credentials and gorgeous English who came a long long way to the U.S. for a winter … Continue reading →

The moral of this story is not that people born outside the U.S. are inclined toward bewilderment or learned helplessness. (Rest assured that in most life skills, the majority of people the world over could rocket figure eights all around … Continue reading →

His house was safe mooring for curios adrift. The lineup of objects in his yard was implausible, yet somehow inviting: stone birdbath draped in lemonbalm, marble cherub in peppermint, oakwood church pew in grapevines, cast-iron weather vane in lavender, bas-relief … Continue reading →