Author Archives: Alice
Tasiilaq in Greenland
We arrived by helicopter to Ammkassalik, which turned out to be a little bigger than Kulusuk, if harder to reach. It’s Greenland’s largest city with a population of 1,900.
Cat Burglar
He ninja crawled across the bedroom in the dark of night, squeezed through a too-small gap in the window, nearly lost the bag of stolen jewelry when it hung up on a tree branch, and dropped two stories to the seat of his Vespa. Alley cats scattered. He kick started the Vespa, but only made it a few feet on flat tires. Laughter came from the window above. “You win!” His friend called down from the window. “You would have […]
Urban Renewal
“I love the sense of history to this place.” Matt said to Martin as they stepped into the old diner. “You like dirty blond brickwork? And faded lettering?” Martin took a stool at the cracked-linoleum counter. “I’m sure it looked better originally. Maybe bigger windows?” Matt looked around dubiously “Nah.” Deb, the waitress slid cups in front of them and filled each with coffee. “This place was always a dive. It’s the kind of place you always talk about blowing […]
Eternal Love
Anna came off the stage from a standing ovation with a huge grin on her face. She’d performed perfectly. As she walked to the dressing room a young man handed her a bouquet of flowers. “There represent my love for you. Promise you will keep these forever.” “You want me to press them or something? I’ll keep them until they wilt,” she assured him. He grinned. She was so giddy from her success she didn’t realize until she tried to […]
Last Full Day in Iceland
In the morning we visited The Blue Lagoon, which is a huge hot spring favored by tourists. Local developers had built up various features, including a two story building housing restaurants, bars, meeting rooms, and office facilities as well as changing/shower rooms. In the lagoon itself there was a built in water fall, snaking “river” with bridges and a “beauty bar” where you could buy mud masks. The swim up beer bar was still under construction. I swam/walked the whole […]
Silly Sally
Sally tried to raid a wild beehive. She thought she knew plenty about bees. For instance, pine needle smoke should put them to sleep. She made the fire small, then climbed the tree. The nest broke loose. She fumbled, trying to not hurt the bees, and flipped the nest into another branch. Bees poured out. She fell awkwardly to the ground, ran to the river with bees chasing, came out drenched and stung, all for one finger full of honey. […]
Pause
I branched too much. Can’t decide which line to pick up right now. I’m going to take a week to do some mental mapping. Watch for the next Suzie’s House next week.
National Museum of Iceland
When I think back on it, I’m surprised to realize that I walked through two or three times as many traditional museums in Mongolia than I did in Iceland. This was the only modern building called a museum that we went through in Iceland.
On A Cold Night
“Mind if I warm up at your fire?” Toby approached the bums deferentially. It was always better to put them at ease first. “Sure. Tell a good enough tale and we’ll share the bottle.” They all nodded. “I got a tall tale or two.” Toby sat. “I knew a man who killed people for fun. He liked to hunt them in parks and truck stops. From each one he took a tooth.” “Is that true?” “Nope. Pure fiction. Worth a […]
Suzie’s House 559 : The Best Daughter
“Your daughter is the best!” Peter gave Emma a shoulder-squeeze hug. Emma couldn’t help but squirm a little under the attention. He, Gabriel, and she had walked into the house just as her mother was setting the silverware on the table for supper. At that point there had been no food in evidence. Just the place settings.
Modern Dance
Three old Blackfeet sat around a campfire in lawn chairs. The tipi was set up with skins laid down already. Dinner lay in scraps around them. There was plenty of wood for the fire. There was nothing left to do. “Good powwow,” one remarked. “Mmmhhmm.” “Could have more of the grandchildren, though. Not enough for a good dance.” “I can fix that.” An elder pulled something out of a pocket, poked around, then stood. He twisted one way, then another. […]
Suzie’s House 558 : I Gave Permanent Shun
A frisson of tension had Emma poking at her face like she needed to adjust her mask even though she wasn’t wearing one. She knew she didn’t really need to worry. Even if she didn’t nail it this time, either, she could still try again. And it wasn’t the audience either with only the guys in the band, a blind sound board operator, and a couple of guys crashing at her house to see her. Maybe it was the song. […]
Used Car Lot
“The air is so clean today!” Alicia stopped in the middle of the path through the woods and spun. “It feels like there is no one else in the world.” “It’s pretty rugged here.” Liam glanced past both Alicia and Sally. He talked about walking in a place where no human had ever been before. “Better than a used car lot.” “I’ve never been here before, have you?” Alicia looked at them. “This could be it, the last untrammeled place […]
