YA Outside the Lines

  What we hoped life would look like I envision social friendships and relationships like a living jigsaw puzzle. Pieces are continually moving, but some fit together. Some of those fits are fleeting, a few remain connected for a lifetime. We connect with people from a very early age unless we’re sociopathic. When I look back, there are brief connections that parted, but left a sense of loss, confusion and melancholy. Such emotional memories are good grist for a writer as we can use parts of them in our fiction. Third or fourth grade-Tom H. moved to Union from Massachusetts. We sat in the back of the class and bounced puns off each other. I still remember a couple from our mutual fascination with the TV show The Untouchables ...All Capon and Elliott Mess. The following summer, Tom moved back to Massachusetts and I never heard from him again. Ever have a magical meeting? One summer night in Camden, I was walking down the sidewalk and encountered a girl about my age. We struck up ...