I could see why he’d wanted the journal: “I wriggled my toes in the cold, red sands. Watching the sun rise over the dunes. I knew that before long, the sand would be too hot for bare feet: a blistering lesson from yesterday. The dry …
Of these stories, the second telling could be true. Or perhaps the third. Or even the fifth, which has no title yet. Consider yourself lucky. Everything changes too quickly to keep up with. Here is how the first story goes. I was singing alone in …
Annabel White sat in one of those semi-comfortable lobby chairs, her leg bobbing up and down. The chair was not uncomfortable—it was certainly soft—but its cushion was bumpy, its innards having been unevenly rearranged by the many bottoms that had sat there before hers. Annabel was …
I know it as soon as I wake up. There’s a surprising clarity, a lens that’s found its focus, followed by a sickening dread. I want to hide under this soft blanket and retreat to sleep, but I know I can’t. It’s our last day …
The problem with having a psychic in the building is we are often mistaken for clairvoyants. The fortune-telling business is one floor above, yet people are forever coming into our office and asking for a reading. This, despite our being a fully functioning vision care …
Joel and Mindy stand at their kitchen sink, peeling peaches for freezing. They place the deep red and gold slices in glass jars that will be filled with a light syrup. These are Red Havens, classic peaches that are perfectly ripe the first week in …
Like everything else included in having a child, it happens fast. Probably because most people wait twelve weeks to announce, leaving the interested parties about six months to get contracts signed. Ryan found this out the day after he and his wife posted the announcement …
The Department of Motor Vehicles in California is a great equalizer. It has no race, income, gender, or sexual prejudices. It treats everybody miserably. What happened to this state? Rising rents, astronomical home prices, traffic congestion, homelessness. I remember growing up in California in the …
A funeral was not the place for an erection, especially the funeral of one’s mother. Simon knew this. He knew it so well that he imagined hellfire consuming his balls. Pubic hair for kindling. Unfortunately, this did nothing to change how attractive the undertaker was. …
My psychiatrist shoots dope. He returns from the bathroom with his shirt sleeves rolled up. I can see where he stuck himself. He should do a better job considering, at some point in his career, he had to have injected patients. Poor patients. First committed …