Bringing the drawing to his face, he closed his eyes, inhaling the paper's vellichor, the opium-like smell of yesteryear and childhood.

His debilitated body, the victim of the wasting disease, could no longer support his weight.

And the Mediterranean world, meeting ground of diverse civilizations from Asia, Africa, and Europe, slumbered uneasily during the final hours of the (baptized) Pax Romana. Way to the North lay Scandinavia—Ultima Thule—whose historical experiences only rarely intersected with those of the Middle Ocean; […]

Eleven months after being widowed I decided it was time to bachelorize my home.