Pablo grips a bottle of booze he managed not to drink last night. A block away Miguel and Niña trail pre-school kids who are joined by a tether and are blocking the sidewalk. The children are noisy and joyful. Their smiles glitter under cloudy skies. This is Pablo’s favorite time of day, a modest slice [...]
“You might feel a little pinch.” That’s how it starts and I turn my head to the right. I never can watch the needle go in, but I look back as soon as she snaps the band free of my bicep and tells me to unclench my hand. The blood fills the glass vial in [...]
I take the pizza box out of the bag. I hand it to Man #3. He opens up the box. He looks at me suspiciously. He ordered pepperoni and pineapple and if it isn’t just how he likes it, he’ll blame me. I know the type.
Man #3 seems satisfied. I smile. I even got the [...]
It was such a lovely dream, too. My first dream about Sadie, how could it be anything but? So rife for pseudo-Freudian psychoanalysis, everything a metaphor for my fears and desires, my excitement and my frustration.
The dream started with me at work, caught in a playful argument with my fellow workers about whether or not [...]
Recently, I gave all my size 4 clothing to Goodwill. This was very hard to do. I’d been holding on to those things for 10 years. I told myself I was not giving up on being size 4. It was just that these clothes were no longer in style, and when I got down to [...]
The first time she said it, it didn’t register since he was still trying to figure out the basis for this sudden discussion. But he heard it the second time, and stopped her after the third.
“What do you mean, we need to integrate our lives?”
She halted mid-sentence, the words hanging in the air between them, [...]
“Ben Bordini died. His funeral’s today.” Nancy exuded a small-town-busybody quality. Something admired three decades ago when we first met. But only because she knew which local guys our age were single, recently split from girlfriends, or otherwise worthy of a backseat roll.
The phone shifted from right to left ear so I could empty grocery [...]
“That’s fucked up, don’t you think?”
“What’s fucked up?” I ask. My wife is driving us home from my mom’s, and once again, as I always do, I’ve gotten lost in my own thoughts of nothing, not paying attention to a word she’s saying.
“What your mom said.”
“Wait, why? What did my mom say?”
“About your dad.” I [...]
Their waitress had left four mints for the two women.
“One for now, one for later,” said the mother, popping the white and green striped mint in her mouth. “Do you feel like walking off the cheesecake, Pam?”
“Why not?” she said, rubbing her soft belly. “It’s my day off from being mommy, and I deserve it.”
“I [...]
Amanda’s hand shook as she opened the front door. Would she find another bunch of daffodils wilting on the doorstep?
‘Got an admirer?’ the post-woman asked, handing her a parcel that was too big for the letterbox. She was looking at the flowers.
An admirer? The thought leapt at her; an admirer, she need not be frightened [...]
