IT IS A HUMID NIGHT in D.C. and the air feels clotted and dense, like it’s on the verge of hemorrhaging outside instead of raining. It’s sick air, damp and shameless; the perfect conditions for reminiscing. I slow my pace back to my hotel where Frannie is already waiting for me in the lobby bar … Continue reading A Dead Thing
Sean Doherty slammed the big glass door open and stormed across the lobby toward his office. “Sean?” Terry, the receptionist, looked up in surprise. “Trouble with Cramer again?” “With Cramer? Never. He’s a paragon of clienthood! A saint!” Sean threw his notebook down the hallway ahead of him and ripped off his tweed jacket. When … Continue reading Working Title
FOR A MOMENT she pictured herself living somewhere else. Somewhere far away where women fixed things in order to live… in some desert somewhere or in a war-torn town… walking home from the vegetable market with a basket balanced on her head. She was connected in some way to all of them. For a moment … Continue reading There Was A Falseness To Her Life
THE MAN BEHIND the Venetian blinds never knew whether it was sunrise or sunset. He would wake up in his leatherette armchair, or on the ratty sofa he kept for naps. He would wake up next to his soft pack of cigarettes, his pint of bourbon. He was waiting. He had been told a leggy … Continue reading Private Eye
“I DON'T KNOW what happened, Ms. Garcia,” a student might say, holding up a vocabulary test marked in Amanda’s signature green pen. “It was like I’d never even seen the words before.” Amanda understands—words are tools; they can hurt you. First came Addiction. Irreconcilable. Divorce. Then, just as she got to Readjustment, came Chemotherapy. And, … Continue reading Patchwork
“WHAT'S THAT?” Emily turned Kaleb’s way and knocked a pillow to the floor. She said it again. “Hmm?” Kaleb said, half asleep. “That noise,” Emily said. She placed her hand on Kaleb’s chest. “Do you hear that?” Kaleb took a second, rubbed his eyes, and worked his tongue around his mouth. “It’s just the wind, … Continue reading The Clearing
I SINK MY FORK into the cake slice, hot bile scalding my throat. It’s black midnight cake, the third I’ve baked this month. “I’ll eat it if you won’t,” Meg chimes from across the table. I force the cake into my mouth and swallow. She raises an eyebrow, studying me, but says nothing. There are … Continue reading Black Midnight
I HAD TO SHOOT numbers fourteen and fifteen before dawn. I started my count years before that. Government didn’t call me responsible for the thirteen I’m sure of. Even then the number seemed like an evil omen and so it was. What else could you expect from government? It creates killers by the thousands, tens … Continue reading Friend of Pig
ANDREW PAUSED near the middle of the bridge and looked downstream. The tide was low so what he saw was mostly mud and what water there was seemed mud-colored which perhaps meant that it was clear. There were a lot of birds, a lot of gulls at any rate. Dipping their heads and cackling like … Continue reading River
"'TIS TIME," he said, surveying the now quiet battlefield as it smoldered."Indeed, brother," he replied, still breathless from battle. "Time to lay waste to this village and make merry in its dregs!""Neigh, brother," there was a look of disgust on their leader's bloodied face. "Time to shift our thinking into a new and glorious direction. … Continue reading A Heretic