Categotry Archives: Suzie’s House

Suzie’s House 439 : Dumpster Diving Daughter

“It’s weird,” Emma said to Tracy and Gene as they left the studio. She was thinking about her father.

“What? The guitar thing?” Tracy arched her eyebrows.

“N- no, no. I think you and Gene switching is a good idea. I, I mean, you and me do more egging each other on anyway, right? So him playing bass and you guitar makes more sense. I… I think.”

“So, you don’t think we’re lame?” Gene actually said something. Usually he just kind of nodded at the right time.

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Suzie’s House 438: Conversation Bombs

As much as Emma loved her father, she wasn’t exactly eager to confront him at the crack of dawn as she was headed for the bathroom to shower the smell of cigarette smoke off of her skin and hair. She could too easily imagine him driving himself into a self righteous frenzy over what he must see as her bad behavior. But it wasn’t like she’d been smoking herself. And if she’d been in a bar, it was only to […]

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Suzie’s House 437 : Climbing in Her Own Window

Emma crawled into her own window around six in the morning. She wasn’t quite sure why she felt it was necessary to pretend she’d been home all night even though she’d only crashed with Tracy and Lisa because the gig at the bar went until closing, and she didn’t feel like trying to explain things to her father because she was so tired.

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Suzie’s House 436: Late Night Talks

Sophie had floated her way into the ER today. To think that when she’d used her nurse training before, she’d only ever taken care of old folks in their own homes, and now she could handle the ER. Maybe nobody else noticed, but she was proud of herself. Still, even if she hadn’t made any mistakes, the tension was very high. There had been three code blues on her shift alone. Everyone kept joking about full moons and bad luck […]

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Suzie’s House 435 : Home Sweet Home

Ethan stood on the stoop of his own house and looked at the key on his chain, glanced at Gabriel, and offered up a sick laugh. “I’m not quite sure what the protocol is here. Should I knock?” “It’s your family. I haven’t been closer than a hundred miles to my family since I left home.”

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Suzie’s House 434 : A Ring of Useless Keys

Nathan told himself yet again that he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. There’s no way he could have hitched home any faster than Gabriel was willing to drive, but did they have to stop at every friend’s house along the way? At least he was clean, well fed, and warm. He had shelter for the night. It just wasn’t the shelter of his own home.

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Suzie’s House 433 : We Can Do What We Want Now

When Emma walked into the living room, she almost tripped over a pair of white orthopedic shoes – the kind her mother wore to work. A pair of hospital uniform pants lay over the back of the couch. The matching top lay on the floor by the hallway leading to the bedrooms. As Emma closed the front door, her nearly nude mother walked by with a shirt half way up her arms. “Mother!” Emma couldn’t help being shocked. Her mother […]

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Suzie’s House 432 : Malaprop Internal Affairs

Gene itched to get practice over with. In a way, it kind of felt like a total waste. He should have said something before they started instead of wanting to do it afterward. As soon as the band started putting their instruments away, he went over to Tracy. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

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Suzie’s House 431 : No Go

If she groveled a little, that might be fun. Bruce had never seen Tracy grovel before. Of course he’d be disappointed now, too, so it was just as well he didn’t really care. “Why?! We should just go anyway.” Tracy threw her hands up in disgust.

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Suzie’s House 430 : Permission

“This.. this is nice.” Emma glanced at Kate as the two of them walked down State Street together. She couldn’t remember the last time just the two of them hung out together. “Yeah. We should do this more often.”

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Suzie’s House 429 : An Unsightly Request

Sophie took a ragged breath. She didn’t want Emma to think she had turned into a complete shrew, but she had to put her foot down. “Over night? In Chicago? No. I don’t think so. You’re too young.” She set her purse down on the side table next to the couch, but didn’t sit, though this conversation threatened to take a while.

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Suzie’s House 428 : Even a Toothbrush

The guest room struck Ethan as so placid it bordered on nondescript. None of the quirky paintings from the rest of the house had made it into this space. No high-end furniture or retro styling here. Just a regular bed, normal dresser, empty closet, inconsequential side table, and a nice window looking over the dark glinting of a lake. He liked it. Ethan felt right at home here.

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Suzie’s House 427 : In His Shoes

If there was one thing Ethan wanted to prove to the world, it was that he had the exact right amount of tolerance. Certainly a great deal more than his co-workers at American Family Insurance Group. But not so much tolerance that he would allow bad things to happen. To quote some editor or another, “I like to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brains fall out.”

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Suzie’s House 426 : Three Cups of Tea

Pete placed three cups of tea on the coffee table. The first he put in front of Ethan, the latest lost puppy to be brought home by Gabriel. The second he gave to Gabriel. The last he kept for himself. He wasn’t a bit surprised when Gabriel clasped his hands together, leaved forward with one of his rare smiles, and said, “I’ll go first.”

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Suzie’s House 425 : A Certain Something

Ethan fell back a step. Two men were kissing right in front of him, one of whom had invited him to spend the night. “Um…” He couldn’t quite keep the worry out of his voice. He glanced at the trees surrounding the fancy, cubist-style condo on whose front step these two men were absorbed in such a public display of affection. One of them made a little moaning sound, and the hair on the back of Ethan’s neck stood on […]

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