Miller Time

UNITED STATES—The national holiday fell on a Tuesday. It was not one of the movable holidays, so there was a buoyant Monday, that felt like a second Friday, effervescing with anticipation for good times to come, that many commandeered for good times in the present. Right after it was all over, on Wednesday, Mr. Smith urgently deposited cash at the...

UNITED STATES—Since Denny wasn't so bright, he had thought he could get the cash for Danielle's fender-bender pay-off at the ATM. It exceeded his daily limit. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) they were in luck (or unlucky) depending if you were in Danielle's Ferragamo's or Denny's Dan Post boots. "One-thousand five-hundred d-d-d-dollars," Denny stammered. The bank teller...

UNITED STATES—“It’s nearly noon.” “That’s amazing. I hadn’t realized,” Suzanne said. “Sunday morning evaporates.” Everyone was clustered at the door of the café and Daniel had to go. They were standing and staying and he was going. It had reached the point—there was a precise millimetric point every day when it was no good anymore, and he had to go. Then Peter came...

UNITED STATES—Then the boy got up and reflexively pulled down his shirt, so it covered his open fly. He peered out the window onto the gray street and flipped around the CLOSED sign. The bolt in the door made a solid clunking sound as it engaged with the doorframe. Mary pulled herself upright, grasping on of the cold black...

UNITED STATES—I knew Jesus before he was Jesus. That’s a line I liked using way more when Kevin, the man who became known as Hollywood Jesus, was among us. This is my prism on his journey, both spectacular and quietly moving. It started in 2001. I am a comedy writer managing a laundromat on Fountain Avenue. It was late at...

UNITED STATES—John Steinbeck was no fool, but he did write one foolish thing in "Travels with Charley." The novelist of the American Road, born in Salinas, set forth the true measure of our country being healed from all its racial strife. We would know we had overcome and transcended when a person could conduct a conversation with somebody on...

UNITED STATES—We all wish each other a Happy New Year and the post modern among us cringe at the conformity of the cliche. But what do we do about increasing happiness? What can we do about it? Here are a few ideas to chew on: 1. Learn to take a step back and let things ride. People are really wound tight these...

UNITED STATES—A warm bath can be the most alluring thing in the world after a night’s filming in a makeshift football field, up in the mountains of the high desert, where the fierceness of the sun is matched only by the fierceness of the evening chill. A warm bath—that’s all I wanted. We worked from 7 a.m. to 7...

UNITED STATES—Agnes had the idea that we could share the apartment. We could get cable TV and it wouldn't be so lonely, and she could bring her furniture. She had nice furniture, fruitwood. It reminded me of Rancho Grande where we liked to go on margarita Fridays. "It will be fun," Agnes said. It was fun for a while, and then...

UNITED STATES—It was the trough right between Christmas and New Year, between overindulgence and overspending. People were slowly coming back to town and there still remained an adequate supply of parking spaces in Hollywood. As a consequence, Greg Burns found himself behind the car that had haunted him since last summer, when it still had dealer plates. Must be nice...