She should have gone grocery shopping, she thinks. She has to go anyway. Who was she kidding? She wanted to spy on him—she wanted to see what he was up to.… Continue Reading
I feel the voices of a million women surging up in song. Their pain rings across the bony beaches, across the centuries. I feel their projections on me, their hopes and fears. But I’m not strong enough. I cast them to the side, where they fill the air with sorrow.… Continue Reading
It’s just me and the stack. I adjust my chair. I breathe deep. I plant my feet. I Google productivity tips. I play a round of e-solitaire. I stare into my screensaver and see Marie laying with me in pixilated fields beneath a trademarked sun. … Continue Reading
A weapon slung over his shoulder looked like a portable machine gun, and a child no older than 6 or 7 years old was crouched over the cop’s boots, shining them.… Continue Reading
I wanted to reassure him, but I didn’t know how to explain that I was just storing things here because my roof had caved in, or that I had to leave soon for a night of driving drunks home from a strip club, or that I didn’t need to stay here because I was sleeping in a bouncer’s garage. Explain that to Dad? I wasn’t even sure I understood it myself.… Continue Reading
He turned his face in the direction of travel and imagined that the world was upside down and he was running very fast to correct it.… Continue Reading
She remembered the seconds of joy as she flew through the air, the crash of the bubbles fizzing their way up her body, but then how the chlorine burned her eyes when she opened them; when she discovered she couldn’t breathe, that she’d somehow got lost on her way back up.… Continue Reading
When I have something important to say, when the time comes to say it, I either A.) realize that it’s not important or B.) convince myself that it isn’t. Tonight, I decide this matter matters enough.… Continue Reading
Oscar Mosco was not a popular man. I don’t believe his family even liked him. The thing about Mr. Mosco that made people want to stay around him was that he was a winner. He won at everything he tried. He cheated a lot.… Continue Reading
Any time a kid goes missing, if her mam’s got a boyfriend, they always reckon it was him done it. We all know better now, but back then the whole world was sure I was a child murderer. Then when her body was found, with those awful injuries, it got even worse.… Continue Reading