Most of the guys had already gone home for winter break. It was just me and Dewey and Manascalco in front of a crackling fire with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red. A storm swirled outside, snow piling up like… Continue Reading
The office is a labyrinth of pre-fab cubicles, grouped in communities of six to eight, taking up every inch of carpeted floor space. There is an uneasy awareness of how physically close everyone is to each other — without the… Continue Reading
She’s brewed a pot of Darjeeling. No tea bags today. She’s cooked an omelet with six eggs and two kinds of cheeses, creating a creamy blue and yellow striated, slightly pungent centre that she hopes he’ll like. It’s a new… Continue Reading
The woman leapt from the top of the burning building. The flames reddened the faces of the watching crowd. The heat pushed them back. The woman hit the ground. The crowd oooooed. If only I’d been a firewoman, I thought,… Continue Reading
There are things which Amos Waters knows. For example, he knows how to sew a button on a shirt, but more than that, he knows how to keep the button safe in the pocket until he gets in from work… Continue Reading
We ran. We fled as if we were both insane, as if chased or possessed by demons. And maybe we were — possessed, that is. Kathy unfolded the map too much. It spread across the dash and fluttered against the… Continue Reading
Your mother called me after you went missing, asking if I knew anything they should know. There aren’t a lot of places to hide in Victorsville, and she was worried because no one had seen you since the night before.… Continue Reading
Tree sap popped inside the fireplace. Head slumped in a sagging recliner as old and rumpled as himself, Nathan Fletcher’s mind fixed on another Christmas. “Evening in Paris,” he muttered. “What, Grandpa?” Bailey’s thumbs skipped atop a pink Game Boy.… Continue Reading
Lincoln Charles hobbled to the end of his driveway wearing only his old man slippers and silk pyjamas, the ones with Marvin the Martian on them. Twilight was fading; time to wind up the beast. He paused next to a… Continue Reading
“How long?” “Six months.” *** “No chemo.” Wasted body. He’s resolute. She looks. Then nods. A kiss. Swelling belly. *** Hi, Teddy. Punch hard. Dance slow. Read lots. Kiss few. Laugh loud, always. Your Dad. Ken Liu was a programmer… Continue Reading