“Forgive me father, for you have sinned.” “What?” came the muffled voice from the other side of the screen. “I mean, you have sinned, haven’t you? I’m not saying that I haven’t, but in a confessional, why does it have to be so one-sided? Why can’t we both just spend a little time finding out […]
“You can’t send a package to Neptune, silly,” said Millicent Rushmore. Her little brother, Roman Rushmore, kept his head up straight as he wrapped another long, noisy strand of scotch tape around the bundle of brown construction paper that he’d crumpled over the present he had for the Neptunians. The present was a baseball, signed, […]
There was this thing between me and the girl. It was a wall. No, a real wall. She lived in the apartment next door, with her mother, and I lived with my sister, an invalid. The girl next door was probably about 25. I was definitely 50. I work late, as a janitor, and […]
Angela won 11 thousand dollars at the poker tables and so saw fit to shake me awake at 5 AM. We come to Vegas every year, she and I. It is ritutal. She invites me, we fly out for a few days, she plays, I walk the streets, drink, sleep, and generally scavenge. We are […]
Lakes scare me. I don’t know why. The bodies of water, sitting still, amidst the woods, nestled in the mountains, or spread across a prairie or stretched across tundra or snow-skinned fields, they all scare me, these lonely sentries of the ocean, sitting and watching, reporting, waiting to once again be part of the mother, […]
COP: Okay. Sit down, Mr. Cook. Some coffee? Care for sugar … or SPICE? Now, you know why we’re here, right Mr. Cook? MR. COOK: Yeah. You’re trying to railroad me. COP: No, Mr. Cook. You are railroading yourself. No, you’re here because, evidence shows that you were present when the victim, we’ll call her […]
The sun came up, again, and Jeanine rose alone with it. Bobby wasn’t in the bed, and his spot wasn’t even depressed and the pillow wasn’t even dented, so, apparently, he never even made it to bed. She swung from her own pillow and slipped her feet into her house shoes. The floor was always […]
One day, the elevator paused between floors, and it was just myself and this black-haired, small lady on the phone. She smelled like a half dozen roses. She was talking about some deal she had just sat in on, and, likely, said the right thing to grease the deal. Her boss, Linda, who, according to […]
Yesterday, the park burned. Not in flames, not with lava, or by some searing force, but by laughter. Laughter, the kind that comes from the bottom of the soul, the kind that happens spontaneously as you run quickly, or as someone you love looks at you and reaches for you and you dodge them, or […]
Just a minute ago, the man Alfred had let into his cab did not have a beard. Now, he did. And, that was impossible. Because Alfred had not picked up anyone else. He looked closely into the rearview mirror. The man who had sat down, just a minute ago, had a smooth face, like […]
