Stevie Dawes sank pints like Nelson sank ships. He drank Courage Best, three at a time, except when his guts played up, when he drank Guinness and told everyone about it. Stevie was a fixture at a South London dive… Continue Reading
Across the face of every freshman streaming into the lecture hall on the fall semester’s first day was the same unspoken question: “Am I in the right class?” Professor Bill Meriwether had every intention of answering that question — just… Continue Reading
It was the dead of night, when everything good and clean went to bed and everything else came out to play. This wasn’t the choicest part of town but there were worse places to be. She was all legs and… Continue Reading
The Director yells “Cut!” on the sound stage and Security descends to escort the actors to their trailers — code for holding pens. The actors are fed genetically engineered food pellets to promote optimum weight, complexion and youthfulness. Exact amounts… Continue Reading
Three eleven-year-old boys hiked to the reservoir that night. They cornered a baby rabbit, separated from its mother, terrified and alone. “Let’s kill it,” said Jake. He was the more muscular and intense, already the alpha male, his ice-blue eyes… Continue Reading
As a rule, I don’t pick up hitchhikers. I’ve always played things safe, not taken chances. It’s probably why I’m an insurance salesman, travelling alone — always alone — along the backroads of Louisiana. But then I see her standing… Continue Reading
“Get up.” Diane stirred from her impromptu nap and a dream of her ex-husband, Marc. Before he served her divorce papers, before their relationship started to disintegrate. In the fantasy, they were holding hands through Central Park, the same place… Continue Reading
Malcolm Carson backed into the revolving door and pushed it with his elbow. Fake candle. Check. Sparkling cider and plastic champagne flutes. Check. Bud vase with one pink Gerber daisy, her favorite. Check. Grease stained tablecloth from Pepo’s. Check. Soggy… Continue Reading
Everyone has the potential for violence. You’d be amazed, really. There’s the girl stripping wings off tiny white moths behind the building where her dad beats her mom, or the nurse who screams obscenities at her roommate after a shift… Continue Reading
The snow crunches under my glove as I compress it across the lip of the ridge. I’ve been sitting here for hours in a snowy ditch, waiting for something, something that I’ve just seen — movement. Scarcely taking my eyes… Continue Reading