Bianca J. Cook

An Unexpected Discovery on the Sidewalk A shiny silver luxury watch slipped from a suit jacket pocket and clattered onto the concrete sidewalk. The heavy metal band bounced near the iron wheels of an old wooden cart stacked with buckets of fresh blossoms. An elderly woman dressed in a worn brown cardigan crouched down slowly, … Read more

A Tense Exchange At The Counter An elderly man in a worn trench coat sets a weathered leather binder onto the polished marble counter. He leans forward, his voice calm as he asks the teller for assistance with his account balance. The teller, neatly dressed in a white shirt and blue tie, barely looks down … Read more

A Roadblock on the Paved Trail A fluffy yellow gosling lay stretched out flat on the grey asphalt, unable to lift its chest off the ground. Standing directly over the little bird, an adult Canada goose thrust its neck forward, flaring its enormous brown wings and hissing at anyone who dared to step close. A … Read more

An Abrupt Order in the First-Class Cabin The flight attendant thrust her index finger directly into the passenger’s face and demanded that he stand up. Her voice cut through the quiet hum of the aircraft cabin as she leaned over the wide leather seat. The man in the sharp navy suit looked up, his expression … Read more

A Nest Caught In Rising Floodwaters Brown, churned floodwater lapped within inches of a hollow opening carved into the base of a submerged tree trunk. Huddled tightly inside the damp hollow sat a mother robin, her orange breast puffed out over two wide-beaked chicks. A small grey inflatable boat drifted alongside the thick bark, rocking … Read more

Trapped On The Edge Of Traffic Four tiny white kittens pressed their noses against the clear plastic film of a tightly knotted produce bag sitting directly on the asphalt shoulder. Heavy semi-trucks and commuter cars roared past only inches away, blasting gusts of exhaust and wind against the thin plastic shell. The kittens opened their … Read more

Trapped Along the Highway Shoulder Torn shreds of heavy black plastic dragged through the gravel as the golden retriever took each slow step along the highway shoulder. Semis and cars rushed past just inches away on the asphalt, blowing dust across his matted coat. Black plastic was twisted tightly around his torso and front legs, … Read more

Dawson’s Creek actor Busy Philipps, 47, has revealed that she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In an interview with People, Philipps said the last six months had been the “weirdest” of her entire life, and it all started when she decided to get a full-body MRI. “I didn’t know why I wanted to get … Read more

Dolly Parton spent decades beneath towering wigs that she called her “armor,” but following her death at 80, a rare glimpse beneath the country legend’s famous hair has fans blown away. Long before anyone heard the opening notes of “Jolene” or “9 to 5,” one look at that gravity-defying cloud of blonde curls was usually … Read more

“Where did all those larvae come from?” the young doctor shouted as he examined me after I was rescued from the swamp. The words echoed through the emergency room. “Why are there live larvae inside this woman’s wound?!” the resident doctor yelled again, his voice filled with shock as he uncovered the leg of the … Read more

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean were married for fifty-nine years after meeting at a Nashville laundromat in 1964. She was eighteen and newly arrived to pursue music; he was twenty-two and certain enough about her to introduce her to his parents early in their relationship. They married privately in Ringgold, Georgia, in 1966. The detail … Read more

Part 1: The Morning Everything Went Wrong “You’re way too handsome to be alone. You should be my dad.” My six-year-old daughter said those words in the middle of the executive hallway of one of the most expensive office towers in Scottsdale, Arizona. For a few seconds, nobody moved. Nobody laughed. Nobody even seemed to … Read more