BUFFY’S BURRITOS “Illegal immigration,” “undocumented workers”—Mike Leahy and many Americans have heard these terms every day, but for Mike, these phrases have existed mainly as vague abstractions. A chance meeting with an old high school classmate initiates a whole series of events that propel Mike past the nebulous world of abstraction into the very real and enigmatic world of undocumented workers—a world in which both businesses and governmental agencies can profit, a world in which the...

Two families, one solidly middle-class American and the other undocumented Mexican immigrants, face an uncertain future. No ones job is safe, and no paycheck is ever guaranteed. They both live in a maelstrom of uncertainty. The rule of law has yielded to the flux of opportunism. While the OConnell family struggles with an arrogant boss and adolescent upheavals, the Riveras cope with fear of the cartels and worries over deportation and teenage missteps. Despite initial misgivings and differ...

Conversations with the Dead is contemporary fiction with a slight supernatural twist. Aided by his colleagues, Mary and Angelo, and supported by his wife, Mandy, Peter still finds himself nonplussed as he deals with an uncompromising administrator. Even more disturbing to Peter is a son still fighting off the demons of war. Confronted by a boss intent on firing him and a son still feeling the effects of the war in Iraq, Peter Stonehouse sits confounded in front of the TV late at night, wat...

Years after the death of their rst born son Sean, his memory still occupies the minds and souls of his parents, Ted and Kate. Both parents struggle to make sense of what they feel may be a meaningless death in a meaningless war. They know that life goes on and that they still have two other children to love and nurture. What will be their fate? They are growing up in the Digital Age, where progress in bio-engineering and AI is making a world of new possibilities. Still, the old problems ex...

Imagine a world in which work is rare, pot and booze flow freely, and no one seems to have any real concerns—at least no one other than a few elites who run the New Way. Such a world may appear to have few drawbacks. After all, robots have relieved mankind of the tedium of menial jobs, and totally mechanized armies fight the wars in distant countries; even the infantry consists of robotic soldiers. No one is forced to do much of anything, and people are free to pursue their own desires. Ye...

SYNOPSIS OF A CONVOCATION OF FIVE What is the value of an ordinary guy’s life and who assesses that value? As Tom Albright approaches the end of his days on earth, five individuals meet to evaluate his life. They begin with hearing and commenting on a baby boomer who grew up with illusions of battlefield glory only to lose those illusions during the turbulence of the 60’s. Likewise, Tom immersed himself in idealized visions of athletic glory, academic success, racial harmony, romantic love...

Pete and Mary find their humdrum life interrupted dramatically by a spirit from the past. All on the surface appears banal and excruciatingly normal, but this ordinary couple must grapple with questions that otherwise they would have conveniently and blithely ignored. The title suggests one of the key questions that Mary and Pete explore. How can an evening—a measure of time—co-exist with eternity? How does time—a measure of past, present and future co-exist with an everlasting now, an ete...

The two tales portray some of the problems facing many American families: bipolar bosses, unemployment, cancer, the seemingly unending hustle for money, and adolescent children coping with the meaning of the puzzling adult world. In ‘67 Ford Mustangs: The Long Drives, the unemployed protagonist undergoes three journeys, including a literal trip to Hell and back. As he scours the country for ‘67 Mustangs to satisfy the fancies of an eccentric collector, he unintentionally comes across an ep...

The two novellas in this collection both describe a world gone mad with a frenzied rush for profit and promotion, a world in which bureaucracy seemingly trumps all other considerations. The first novella, “So, This Is It,” finds its protagonist unable to find work anywhere except in the ever-expanding government bureaucracy. Reluctantly, he finds himself employed in the Office of the Word. Assigned to do the impossible, the protagonist struggles to find meaning in a world without a soul. T...

In an era when immigration was at its peak, the Fabre Line offered the only transatlantic route to southern New England. One of its most important ports was in Providence, Rhode Island. Nearly eighty-four thousand immigrants were admitted to the country between the years 1911 and 1934. Almost one in nine of these individuals elected to settle in Rhode Island after landing in Providence, amounting to around eleven thousand new residents. Most of these immigrants were from Portugal and Italy...

Rhode Island's contribution to World War II vastly exceeded its small size.Narragansett Bay was an armed camp dotted by army forts and navy facilities. They included the country's most important torpedo production and testing facilities at Newport and the Northeast's largest naval air station at Quonset Point. Three special, top-secret German POW camps were based in Narragansett and Jamestown. Meanwhile, Rhode Island workers from all over the state - including, for...

The Providence River begins its journey from the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers, in the capital city from which the river takes its name. A short distance downstream, the Seekonk River joins with the Providence as they flow on toward the mouth of Narragansett Bay. The history of the Ocean State was made on the banks of this historic river. It was here that Roger Williams established the first settlement dedicated to religious liberty, Rochambeau's army made its fir...