We bought the land to build a house, even though we knew it would be years before we could afford to build anything. We thought of it as an investment in our future. The land gave us something to look ... [+]
P. L. Watts aged out of the Florida foster care system and worked her way through college and grad school. Find her work online at plwatts.com "The Maestro" is in Short Circuit #07, Short Édition's quarterly review.
If he's being honest, he wishes he was at home with a Bourbon and a good book. He's never been one for pageantry. But the party is to honor him. The other retiring faculty members too, of course. But mostly him. So when they call for a song, he dutifully sets his champagne aside and sits down at the piano. How could he not? He's spent nearly fifty years of his life here. He closes his eyes as he plays the little fugue he composed while puttering in his garden last week. He always did mean to spend more time on his own compositions. But between auditions, lessons, course planning, performances,