New Face

Dan stumbled to the bathroom and half-asleep, braced one hand against the wall and stood at the toilet peeing onto the closed lid until the splash jolted him awake. Disgusted, he turned to the mirror and stared into a strange face, a face nothing like the one he went to bed with. His wife got one look, screamed bloody murder and hightailed it out of the house. Unsure what else to do, Dan climbed back in bed hoping he’d wake up to a familiar face.    

Manna-hata

The farm was a middling one in Manna-hata, rich in corn, melons and livestock. Mornings passed with chores and baking bread, but then Anneke set off north along the Breede Wegh trail, passing stands of hickory and chestnut, coming at last to a red maple swamp where she spied an Indian girl singing beside a running brook. The girl signaled to Anneke and they sat all that afternoon singing songs and braiding Anneke’s hair with shells called wampum.    

Tijuana

Vic and Rita went down to Tijuana for the day, Rita rattling on half the time about this great restaurant on Mulagé off the park. So they went there for lunch. Margaritas, guacamole and chips, tacos, the usual. Rita raved about it, said it was the greatest. On the way back to Escondito, Montezuma’s revenge hit both of them so bad, they stopped at a motel to recover. Rita was still raving about the fabulous guacamole between trips to the bathroom.