Tag Archives: fatherhood

Two Stories

Two Stories

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Because the boys on the street beat your skinny ass and called you bastard. Because the man in the suit and stethoscope said he was your dad but only stayed long enough to give your feverish twin sulfa. Because you and your brother fought the street rats with garbage can lids and sticks. Because the Chicago Nazis beat up your brother.more

Reading Persimmon Seeds in Appalachia

Reading Persimmon Seeds in Appalachia

CREATIVE NONFICTION by

Maybe those persimmon seeds are magic; maybe they’re just seeds. I have my suspicions. But they are at least an attempt to make sense of the future that is unknown to all of us.more

Two Stories

Two Stories

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They call you the “Flying Squirrel.” It’s a stupid moniker, one you used to try to drop. Back when you cared about those kinds of things. You used to care about a lot of things you’ve sacrificed over the years, along with your pride, your relationship with your son, and plenty of your brain cells.more

The 99 Days of Hell

The 99 Days of Hell

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The couple said, “it will get better.” They said, “let’s do that tomorrow.” They said, “we got through today and it could’ve been worse.” They said, “God willing,” and they said, “from your mouth to God’s ears.” The husband said, “that’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul,” and death rattled inside him.more

THREE STORIES

THREE STORIES

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It was embarrassing, sprinting in his shiny funeral suit, trailing the paper kite over the hillocks. And from this he gained some sense of the ridiculous and the infantile that fathers persevered through for little-ones too young to recognise it as anything other than wondrous.more

Jobber

Jobber

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Mack had two roles. The first was to lose every match and the second was to ensure his opponent appeared like a winner, no, an alpha in the process. He was, in wrestling industry terminology, a jobber. No more than that. It would never be more than that. Not for him. Too skinny, the boss said. No abs, he said. Worse, no charisma. The other wrestlers got the wins. Mack didn’t.more

Beer and Sushi

Beer and Sushi

CREATIVE NONFICTION by

I’m sure plenty of his friends’ parents stroll through his line, but I wondered how many of them had taken him to a concert in Detroit when he was 15, and if I was the first on a Saturday night, buying beer and sushi in a Dusty Rhodes t-shirt?more

Apartment 1848

Apartment 1848

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“Early for shift,” it said. “One minute, thirty-two seconds. Twenty-seven hours, fifty-two minutes, and twenty seconds of voluntary overtime have been logged to your account this period. Would you like to volunteer to give up a shift?”more

Dads on Phones

Dads on Phones

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Phonesy Johnson’s child, Phineous, is such a DICK!, the blog’s caption read. He wants to play ball, but Dad is CLEARLY so busy reporting to GOD that he cannot spend these 30 minutes providing his undivided attention.more

My Beautiful Father

My Beautiful Father

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A coming-out is kind of like a reverse surprise party: the invitation is an ambush, and once you receive it, you’re at the party. more