The sugar bowl was reduced to this: two dollars and thirty-six cents. A year of high rents, bills, and groceries ravaged this reservoir of money, until today, the twenty-third of December. Miranda replaced the lid and sat at the kitchen chair, dejected. She covered her face with hands warmed by a cup of tea to ...

I am a huge gift person. I love getting gifts for my friends to let them know that I was thinking about them. My favorite memories from my teenage years were the random trips to Borders and Barnes & Noble with my parents. I was one of those kids who had my Christmas list separated ...