Douglas turned to see his son David on the sidewalk. There is an expression that Douglas always thought of as a terrible cliche: his heart leapt into his throat. But he could not help but note the heartbeat that threatened to take over his ability to breathe. “David.” Every one on the porch appeared frozen … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 106 Reboot

Leo recognized Douglas first, his tall frame coming into focus the closer he came to the sidewalk in front of Allison’s old green house. No, that’s not true. Precious recognized her old friend Douglas first, expressing her joy with whimpers, wiggles, and three short yips. She’d sniffed him from a block away, his comforting smell … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 105 Reboot

Douglas had heard of the accident, his son David’s big black Jeep clipping Leo in the crosswalk as he ran to save Marilyn’s old dog, Precious. These names were incantations in Douglas’s mind as he underwent his own cancer treatment. Leo, the person who had been there when Marilyn went to the hospital for the … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 104 Reboot

The day Leo came home from the hospital, Franny and Allison settled him back into the basement apartment. It seemed a better place to recover than Franny’s small apartment, or perhaps part of her clung to her own need for an independent refuge. Somehow, David had kept Precious. Franny’s landlord had run out of patience, … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 103 Reboot

Allison watched the black Jeep crawl up the street to the house that used to belong to Marilyn. She’d put a chair on the front porch, despite the wind-blown chill in the air, just to feel the newly-emerged sun on her face. Summer was just around the corner, and Pine Street felt its nearness. Trees … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 102 Reboot

Life doesn’t sort itself neatly into episodes, or in multiples of ten. This is our one-hundred and first visit to Pine Street, occurring somewhere around a year and a half since our first day there, hanging out with Franny in her new, nearly-bare apartment. The lives of the denizens of Pine Street should pause, so … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 101 Reboot

“It’s okay, I’ve got her.” David held onto Precious as best he could. The scruffy little dog, all the itchiness returning to her toes, noes, and, weirdly, somewhere deep in her intuition, wriggled and squirmed. “Thank you,” Franny said. “I’ll take her.” “No, you have your hands full with that gallant gentleman who tried to … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 100 Reboot

Leo could not recall starting to run across the road. As if in a dream, or a nightmare, his awareness found him halfway to Precious as the old dog stood in the path of the Jeep. Old humans should not be able to run as fast as they did when they were teenagers, competing in … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 99 Reboot

Precious the dog felt conflicted. As much as a dog can, anyway. Her tail wagged, seemingly of its own accord, catching the infectious happiness of the two people she loved most in the world enjoying their second kiss. Their joy radiated outward, warming the atmosphere around them, reaching down to the level where Precious’s tail … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 98 Reboot

When Franny was a girl, she idolized her older brother. He was cool, that elusive state of being she felt completely unable to achieve. First, cool was reserved for boys, an unspoken rule that girls could be mean, sweet, popular, unpopular, pretty, or ugly, but only boys could truly be cool. Second, cool dwelt in … Continue reading Pine Street Episode 97/Bonus Reboot