102. Brad

He had high hopes. This was his last ditch attempt to shine. His overachievement had led to naught, in fact he just felt fatigue at the life long effort. He wanted the personality he finally discovered to stand alone. Others seemed to like it. This was his real self, he was no longer invisible man nor the boy who would be crushed. But impressing dear father was still a daunting task.

101. Tv stand

His only way in was to sneak. The scent of nail polish permeated the room. So this is what the women were up to when he heard them giggling beyond the door. The exclusion hurt. He found a color that pleased him, delicately painted his baby toe, jammed his sneaker back on and left, softly closing the door behind him.

100. Negril road new years

A whiff of danger tinged the excitement of the moment. There was comfort in numbers, in the clouds of car exhaust and jamming stereos. She wanted to examine everyone but knew better than to look too closely as curious as she was. There were boundaries within the frenzy. The pomp and parade gave her enough nostalgia to last a lifetime.

99. Jamaica DJ

The atmosphere was assaultive on the senses. The bass rocked him from the inside out, the girls whined up there waists in the front of the crowd and the smell of oily fried fish and festival made his stomach growl. He wouldn’t have it any other way. It made up for the guilt of telling Mama he was going to church tonight.

98. J. A. Flowers

He would do anything to impress her with beauty. It made up for his missteps and possibly bought him some positive karma he figured. He learned quickly that material things meant less to her. But the soft mewling of the baby in her arms was the best gift of all and nothing would ever top that. Poopy diapers notwithstanding.