Austin’s Father Finally Snapped: A 50-word microfiction
Austin stroked her hand, taking care to avoid the IV tube. Tubes and wires were everywhere, it seemed. “Why did he do it, Mom?” Austin asked. “Surprised he waited. This long,” she rasped. “Hated those letters. In the house.” “Letters?” “Your Uncle. Frank. Love of my life.” Her last words.
Fiction: The Beloved Comes Home
Mary rose from the grass slowly, brushing a few stray blades from her knees, using the headstone for support. She remembered a time when she stood effortlessly from a cross-legged sit, long legs unfolding like a newborn foal’s. “You okay, Ma?” her son asked. “Need a hand?” Mary allowed herself to be guided to her […]
Recipe: Banana Cake and Coffee
When bananas look good in the grocery store, I always want to buy a LOT. I think of bananas in my oatmeal, banana smoothies, and sharing bananas with my puppy Ruby. Sometimes I just buy a few too many, and before I know it, those beautiful bananas are almost too ripe to enjoy. That’s when […]
Recipe: Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Bites
My friend Laurel told me about these delicious little snacks she tried when visiting her boyfriend’s family for the Christmas holiday. When I went shopping for the ingredients, I found the recipe on the back of the candy bag! I’m tweaking it a little because Mark isn’t crazy about pecans. I hope you enjoy these […]
Recipe: Meatless Meatball Subs
My mom used ground beef for her meatballs, and when I became a vegetarian I missed making one of my favorite sandwiches–her meatball sub. Recently, however, I found a package of Beyond Meat meatballs at Costco, and decided to give them a try. to my delight, they were delicious!!! I brown them in the oven […]
Fiction: They Persisted
The good news is that the puppy is scratching and whining at the back door instead of peeing on Marla’s hardwood kitchen floor. The bad news is that it’s almost midnight on a frigid February night. Marla grabs her coat and the leash and heads outside to “the spot” in the partially-fenced back yard. Her […]
Welcome to Afternoon Lane!
We’re so glad you’re here! We are Susan and Mark Sagarin. After COVID-19 became a global pandemic in 2020, we got so caught up in the fear, economic struggle, and anxiety over so much uncertainty that we lost sight of the things that spark our creativity and make us happy. So, we created this website […]
The Pandemic Doesn’t Exist Anymore
I’ve lost my best friend. Last Sunday night, I took my 11-year old rescue puppy Rafe outside for his last pee break of the night. It was close to midnight on a clear and comfortably cold December night. The neighbors on our little cul-de-sac had outdone themselves with blinking holiday lights, inflatable snowmen, and glitzy […]
Fiction: How Jeff Got That Scar
Jeff hesitated outside Alice’s dorm room door. It was early morning, and he could hear faint chirps of alarms going off in some of the nearby rooms. He raised his fist to knock on Alice’s door, but changed his mind. He wanted to see her more than he’d ever wanted anything. He wanted to tell […]
My Depression Management Strategies Don’t Work Anymore
Managing chronic depression during COVID-19 is hard. It seems like we can click on just about any link to a news source these days and read about how depression and anxiety disorders have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent Boston University School of Public Health study reports that the percentage of U.S. adults reporting being depressed […]
