Texture by John Sheirer

Diane touched her favorite photography award, the first of many, presented forty-two years ago. She stroked the deep grooves of her name etched in the metal. Her eyes moved left and found the photo that had earned that award. She leaned forward until her breath fogged the plexiglass. After three eye surgeries, all she could make out was the basic shape of the mountain range. Diane touched the glass, and, for the first time in her life, she wished she had learned to paint. Thick, brush strokes, coarse as the mountain rock beneath her fingertips, would have been a comfort.

John Sheirer lives in Western Massachusetts and is in his 30th year of teaching at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Connecticut. His latest book is the award-winning short story collection, Stumbling Through Adulthood: Linked Stories. Find him at JohnSheirer.com.