Braxton & Hicks never played Vaudeville for laughs. There was no curtain to this bloody show. We, the husbands, sat in the boardroom and waited for mothers to pee.… more
Braxton & Hicks never played Vaudeville for laughs. There was no curtain to this bloody show. We, the husbands, sat in the boardroom and waited for mothers to pee.… more
There’s a circle of light in the middle of an otherwise completely dark room. Well, it’s not exactly in the middle, but close enough that it would take a laser’s precise measurement to show that it’s not exactly centered in the room. So let’s just say it’s in the middle and move on.… more
A child will emerge from an alley as dark as a cocoon, where the air will carry a baby mobile’s tune. She’ll toddle over in a baptismal dress stitched with lace, with a satin bow wrapped around her waist. She’ll tap her toes in leather Mary Janes and say, Mommy! Her voice will ripple like the cries that rise every night on repeat.… more
I walked over to South Williams Street. It was where all the cool kids were drinking. And I was a pretty cool kid. It was raining, which was new for Dublin.… more
Their Boy Scout manual didn’t cover what to do when you found a fetus along the Kishwaukee River bank.… more
TRY NOT TO SHAKE OR JUST LEAVE HIM SOMEWHERE was something she texted one of those last times. I wasn’t a Papa long enough to be asked something like that, but I tried to do it anyway. … more
Does the reader really need to know the story unfolds on a Monday? He imagined himself choking down cigarettes with Jason Robards, legs resting on a cluttered desk, flipping and conferring over a wrinkled printout. If he were a better writer, the story would already have that “Monday” feel to it.… more
There was all the research he had the patience to do on which refrigerator model, brand of woolen socks that would actually keep my feet warm, rechargeable battery for the edger, pest control service, VPN, mechanic, or coffee bean roaster to buy. Every goddamn thing but what that shortness of breath could mean and which cardiologist was the best to see about it.… more
The news said the temperature would be zero or below. I said how can it be zero, how can a temperature be nothing? But it isn’t nothing, it’s zero, it’s a value, my brother told me. He was also living with my mom at the time.… more
It’s not worth knowing what’s inside the wall. It’s just a vaguely human shape painted on the wall of one of the bedrooms, that knocks at specific intervals. But the thing’s brick and I’m not made of money, especially not after buying a home.… more