It came to him suddenly, as he ran down the street screaming and on fire, that he was making a spectacle of himself. After all, this was a modest neighborhood of well-maintained lawns and sensible ... [+]
Susan writes for adults and children, including picture books. She loves history, mystery and finding rhyme in unexpected subjects. "Falling into New Year" is in Short Circuit #08, Short Édition's quarterly review.
Autumn's here—Happy New Year! Not for me, that pallid substitute in January with its noisemakers and forgotten resolutions. My calendar resets annually with the opening of classroom doors, no matter that decades have passed since I last slammed shut a locker or handed in a textbook. My pulse quickens at the sight of highlighters and lined paper newly piled on store shelves. Long before the first leaf falls, mannequins are draped in earth tones that conjure forest floors and lichen and wood smoke. Despite heat that melts my synapses, a voice within me exults: It begins. For years, no matter how