Speed, the SATs and Being Smart Enough

Speed, the SATs and Being Smart Enough

I sat in the back seat of the Knox family station wagon. James and Marlin Athearn rifled basketball scores and trivia at each other up front. My brain had glazed over fifteen miles ago. We cruised south on I-4 toward Orlando through an aisle of orange groves dotted...
Fresca, the County Fair, and the Truth

Fresca, the County Fair, and the Truth

I climbed out of Mom’s Plymouth Duster into the halo of light circling the Martin County Fair and weaved through the parked cars into the clutch of my friends. The metallic clacking and whirring of amusement rides buzzed excitement through the Florida fall night....
Goodbye and Other Endings

Goodbye and Other Endings

Dad had every intention of making it to 300 like the maharishi he’d read about in a magazine. He’d outlive me if it could be done by the sheer force of his will. At 82 Dad was Mr. Carrot Juice, poster boy of healthy living. Dad hopped a plane to Guatemala—a penny...