10 MINUTES Walk in the front door. It hurts more than usual today. Apparently, when they leave the bullet in your leg, the pain comes and goes. Doctor said something about my femoral artery when he told me why they… Continue Reading
Detective Wendy Murtaugh walked through the door of the West Side Coin Shop. “Thank goodness you’re here!” exclaimed shop owner Carlton Clark. “My most valuable coin, a 1943 copper penny, is missing. I found a ransom note in its place.”… Continue Reading
I don’t belong here, I hate this place. It’s too cold. I can’t find my way around and some days, everything looks the same. This place frightens me. There are things I don’t recognize, belongings, and they don’t belong to… Continue Reading
Charlie’s never seen me burn lamb chops, but he’s grown outraged over less, and over nothing at all. “Budweiser!” he screams into the phone. “What do you mean I can’t cancel the dispatch? That’s my code word! … I don’t… Continue Reading
When Martin walked into The Thirsty Mermaid, the bar was damn near empty. The bartender, a young, chiseled Hispanic man, gave him a nod while two old drunkards at opposite ends of the bar stared into the bottom of their… Continue Reading
The mechanic was right: the park was well-watered and peaceful, the ideal place to wait while he replaced my two tires that had been slashed that morning. I had attended lectures on people-centered management at the town’s Ritz Carlton, a… Continue Reading
Paul looked down at the screen in his hands and sighed. It was the last day of September and he could see the looming winter months of unemployment as clearly as he could see the storm gathering overhead. One bolt… Continue Reading
Others decide things for me, because whatever I decide turns out wrong. It’s all about knowing limits, and I can’t stop at the edges. I associate mainly with other sullied, stigmatized transgressors. I spent two years at the Forensic Psychiatric… Continue Reading
In a box of mixed up secondhand books, something needs to stand out. This one did. Its title, How to Disappear; Vanishment Made Easy, caught my eye at once, mixed in with cheap novels from the Fifties and various “How… Continue Reading
The actual crash — the impact and not the spectacular explosion of sight and sound that follows — is nearly imperceptible. The Volvo soars, the cabin rotates, and my body wants to travel, even as the car, meeting pavement, does… Continue Reading