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“I don’t believe I woulda agreed to do this a second time if it weren’t for that beach we’re gonna end up at,” she said. “Jeepers, Wanda. When we were in our teens, you used to like to go wandering all over in those North Carolina hills. Had to scamper to keep up with you.…

It started one evening in an apartment building on Connecticut Avenue just south of the bridge that spans Rock Creek Park. A stately old place where Douglas MacArthur had resided after President Truman fired him, pissed off a whole lot of Republicans, and assured the narcissistic genius his place in history. John Carothers and Harold…

It was about 10:30 in the morning on New Year’s Eve day. She was maybe four feet tall. Rolling a cue ball back and forth on the pool table in the old gym where us grown ups were playing pickleball. “Hey.” “Hey. My name’s Regina. What’s yours?” “Hi, Regina. I’m Virgil. Nice to meet you.”…

They were both old. Irwin was Jewish. Horatio was black. It was mid August, somewhere up in the Finger Lakes. They were sitting on a porch gazing at water that stretched out further than either could see. They’d met over dinner and told their wives they’d be back upstairs before too long. “Remember where you…

Calvin’s and my number one distraction was football. Our regional middle school had a team, and Calvin and I were the stars. On offense, he played fullback and I was a wide receiver. On defense he played linebacker and I was a free safety. As the season progressed, these big, jock looking guys kept coming…

“Hey, Virgil? How ya’ doin boychek?” The greeting boomed out of the shadows from the back of the clubhouse bar where I’d popped in to grab a bottle of water. “Myron, you don’t gotta yell. The young man is not deaf like us.” That was Saul. I pegged him at 85. About the same as…

“I’m not kidding. Now that it’s one way, I’ve seen cars go up that stretch of 17th Street at 50 miles an hour. It’s just a matter of time before somebody gets killed or maimed.” Peter Loomis had yelled that out from the back of the Emanuel Baptist Church where it was standing room only…

There were three of them: Randall Thudgeon — in 1963 Randall was 19 years old. He’d been in trouble with the law from the time he was thirteen. He was over six five and weighed 250 pounds, not an ounce of it fat. His friends, if you could call them friends, said Randall made copper…

“I want us to do something about this,” said Sheila. If there was a leader among the four of them, she was it. But they really didn’t need a leader. Women have been banding together in times of crisis for a long time. Ireland is a good example. Were it not for Irish women, say…

By Peter B. Wylie When Albert Driscoll died, he wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t even at fault. Some guy in a big pick-up ran a stop light and knocked Albert’s smaller pick-up into the middle of next week. The only witness claimed she didn’t get a good look at the offending vehicle. It had sped off…