The room is dimly lit. The woman who just impressed you by gulping her Budweiser in one of those craft-brew bars is now asking if you have children. Before this, she’d liked the way you won the game of pool… Continue Reading
Part way through Act 2 Scene 1, the man next to her says, “Are you a thief? Because you’ve stolen my heart.” “Really?” she replies. “Is that the best you can do?” “I meant it in a post-ironic, hipster kind… Continue Reading
On a cold, snowy day in January, as an old song played on the radio, Joe, whose birthday was in September, had more trouble than usual getting ready for school. “Eat your breakfast, son,” his father said. “Today is, what,… Continue Reading
The fisherman is the boyfriend of one of my closest friends. Miguel has been trawling his lines for some time, waiting patiently for the fish to take his bait. It began as a tranquil journey, no lines put out, just… Continue Reading
Three young men were sitting a few seats away from me at the counter, sun-browned and neatly scrubbed in civvies. Newly assigned at the Coast Guard station out on the point. They weren’t difficult to spot. I could pick up… Continue Reading
I just turned fifty: the same age as my estranged father when he died. Such a thing gets a man to pondering the details of his life. Such thoughts made me get busy, first by cleaning up my dingy old… Continue Reading
In class today, two guest speakers, a Republican and a Democrat, contradict each other for the whole period and leave us with a pile of campaign buttons. I take the President Nixon. Now more than ever. button because it looks… Continue Reading
“David Jones, Software Engineer,” read the placard outside his cubical. He’d only been away for five minutes: a bathroom break and a quick trip by the vending machines. Sipping his Diet StimRev, Dave realized immediately that something was wrong. His… Continue Reading
He appeared just seconds after it happened. The knot of anxiety still held in my throat and all I wanted to do was turn back to them and scream, “Wankers!” I pulled my coat tighter and felt stupid, like I’d… Continue Reading
Lily Rose Jones slowed to a stop on the shoulder of Highway 5, sixty miles out of Los Angeles heading North toward San Francisco. A florist by trade, automatically she noted spots of color on the hills surrounding her. Although… Continue Reading