Life Stories Cafe

This is a work of fiction inspired by real events. SUMMARY:   Behind the polished smiles and impeccable uniforms of Glide Airlines lies a toxic culture where cruelty and unchecked arrogance can turn deadly.  Flight attendant Cheyenne has a confrontation with an abusive coworker who enjoys making others miserable. Fellow crew member Phillip has his own run-ins with the same vindictive flight attendant whose bullying has become legendary among the crews. Eventually, the flight attendant’s cruelty takes a terrifying turn when Kat, an exhausted young mother, boards a transatlantic flight with her fussy toddler.   *** Cheyenne   was exhausted.   It had been one of those godawful trips that happened once in a while.  On the jumpseat for landing, she leaned over and whispered to Marlowe, “I can’t wait to get home.  I’m going to take a long, hot shower, have a good, stiff drink, straddle Jonathan and tell him to do me until I’m weak in the knees.”...

SUMMARY:   As her fortieth birthday approaches, Carly makes a promise to herself: she will rekindle the love she and Josh once had by reclaiming her confidence and celebrating the milestone as "forty and fabulous." But while Carly transforms from an overlooked wife into a woman who turns heads once again, her marriage is quietly unraveling, as Josh risks everything for a fantasy he mistakes for happiness.  And instead of the special gift she expects, her fortieth year delivers a betrayal so devastating it shatters the life she's spent years building.  What follows is a story about self-respect, resilience, and discovering that sometimes the greatest gift life gives you is the strength it takes to choose yourself when someone else no longer does. *** Looking back, Carly realized that the third decade of her life was coming to a close.  A lot had happened in those ten years.  She and Joshua had bought their first house, had two more children, and she’d f...

SUMMARY:  Deferred is  a sweeping story of first love, race, class, regret, and second chances. It  asks a timeless question: Is it ever too late to tell someone they were the love of your life?   The summer of 1950 was supposed to be just another season.  Instead, it became the one that defined two lives and created memories that lasted a lifetime.  That summer o n the campus of Princeton University, two young people fell in love, and it was effortless, intoxicating, and... haunting.      *** She was all of eighteen with a head full of gorgeous, perfumed hair.   The first time he saw her, he did a double-take.  But she was a cook in the university's kitchen.  A cook, just a cook.  Be that as it may, during the summer of 1950, on the campus of Princeton University, he fell in love with her.  It was a summer of lightness and magic, and they spent every night of it together, talking, laughing, dream...

SUMMARY:   Based entirely on true events, this remarkable story explores the intersection of medicine, faith, maternal instinct, and perseverance.  It asks a profound question: When science reaches its limits, what role do hope, prayer, and the courage to trust one's deepest convictions play in changing the course of a life? When Bernard is diagnosed with aggressive multiple sclerosis, his future seems all but written: progressive disability, endless medications, and the looming threat of paralysis.  As specialists offer grim predictions and treatments that seem almost as devastating as the disease itself, his mother refuses to accept that fate. Years earlier, two seemingly ordinary television moments—Oprah Winfrey urging viewers to trust their instincts and Christopher Reeve passionately advocating for stem cell research—lodged themselves in her memory for reasons she couldn't explain. Now, in the darkest season of her life, those forgotten messages resurface with...

At First Sight.   Asleep in the upper deck aboard the darkened 747, Jade could feel his eyes on her.   Opening her own, she saw him staring directly at her while drinking a mimosa at the upper deck bar.   He had that look of supreme confidence so many Americans had.   And his mouth.   She could not stop looking at his mouth.   Can a man have a beautiful mouth ?  She wondered.   Breathing heavily, she placed a trembling hand to her heart.      My god, he takes my breath away , she thought.   His arms, shoulders, and chest strained the white cotton of his T-shirt.   And he was tall, the man talking to him at the bar had to look up to see his face.   What would it feel like to be held in those big arms against that broad chest ?   She thought.   And his beard.   She loved a man with a beard, always had.   She caught her breath w...