Sabrina Goss, recipient of the 2008 Green Wyrick Creative Writing Scholarship for Fiction:

An excerpt from Goss' winning work:

LEXIE ROSE

          Her name was Alexis, but everyone who knew her well called her Lexie.  She was a slim girl, very pretty, and she would often watch her reflection for long stretches at a time, bewildered that she was prettier and thinner than she felt.  Her hair was long and the color of fire.  She would sweep it up sometimes to watch the angles of her neck and shoulders when she shrugged, saying out loud, "I don't give a damn."  She looked especially alluring in blue, and this particular dress flowed from her soft curves just like water.

          She moved from corner to conrner in the bronze-and-mahogany bedroom, glancing at an old cheval mirror from many angles.

          Richard would be home soon, but Lexie had enough time to change into her pajamas and scibble a few lines in her notebook before he arrived.  Almost certainly, he would ask her what she had accomplished, for Richard was as concered with her daily activities as he was his own.  And no wonder! He spend twelve hours every day moping around in the greenhouse he owned, double-checking moisture levels and inserting little sticks of white stuff into pots of soil.  Sometimes there would be customers, and a lady would cart away a sad looking fern or two, but Richard mostly passed his time tending to delicate little shoots of mysterious green.  ...

Last Updated December 12, 2008