Migrations: Short Stories by Kathryn Holzman

Migrations is a collection of short stories inspired by movement: the early migrations to the West Coast that settled our nation; the continuing movement of families within the United States as the nation evolved and the relocations that continue today as young families attempt to find a place to call home.Many of these stories were inspired by research. But more than the facts uncovered, these stories come alive with the questions that remain. Did the Geologist wonder if his descendants would one day see his signature deep in a cave in Oregon? Did the beloved grandfather ever tell his second wife about his first? Why could a woman never leave behind the abandonment she felt as a child? How did the proper Supreme Court Judge, a paragon on propriety, respond when his son eloped with a free-spirited suffragette?.In the opening story, two migrations intersect: a geologist and Minister traveling via Prarie Schooner in the 1700s spend an evening on the open plains with a rebellious couple traveling via Amtrak from Seattle to New York City in the 1970s where they are determined to begin a new life. Other migrations follow: a family's migration from Seattle to California when California was new and sub-divisions were rapidly replacing bucolic acres of apricot orchards; a young woman's move to NYC where she learns the tricks of survival in a residence for women, a pregnant mother's meditations as she watches her young son band hummingbirds about to begin their long flight south.Rooted in the real world, the characters in Kathryn Holzman's stories wander. No two characters see their past in the same way. These short stories allow the reader an opportunity to try on another's skin, to explore the misinterpretations that shape, and so òften, divide us.