I told Lamar to call me when we hit quota. I wanted to hear the excitement in his voice, that of which I have not heard in over a decade—when all we did was try...
-- Do you object to my annexing the middle seat?
-- I’m sorry?
-- They’ve just closed the cabin doors, so I thought I might spread myself out into the mid...
The most interesting thing about me is that I’m famous for manslaughter, which in the end, was called something else, something less gory than slaughter, though...
The laminated menu said that it had been open since 1986. The 18th of December to be exact. It seems a strange date to open up an Italian restaurant in a North ...
Emma’s beehives were at the very back of her property. She’d bought this house specifically because it landed strategically outside of relevant county lines and...
We were standing in our living room, daylight fading through the blinds, when Em started telling me that our relationship was over—completely over. That the spa...
Cassie shook her head back and forth real slow, her chin drawn up and pressing her lips into a line, like I’d told her my dog died instead of just pulling down ...
She had wrapped her naked body in the thin, blue hospital gown. After recording her weight, blood pressure, and heart rate, the nurse asked, “Are you sexually a...
One night I was looking at an author’s Instagram account and noticed that B.J. Novak followed her. I remembered that he was a writer, too.
Then I remembered ...
When it was time to kill Peter again I was sitting on the porch eating tapioca pudding.
“Here,” Minnow said, and threw me a shotgun. She was holding a tripod...
Long Arm of the Law
Alphonse whiteknuckled the screen door’s frame to steady himself, and he jutted his bearded chin at Marguerite. “Hit me harder.”
...
Brad matriculated into our writing program two weeks into March, which was unusual—like everything else about him. He purported to concentrate in creative nonfi...
I was leaving, and you knew it. You saw my bag, too heavy for the occasion, slumped on the chair next to me. You talked to them, to her, to everyone but me, eac...
Now I’m imagining Elon knocks on the door. He’s by himself. His face is plasticy—vaguely botoxed and expressionless. It’s impossible to guess his age by his app...
They were coming to the end of the folded paper stars that Susan had used to pack her memories. She chose one, flicking a loose corner back and forth with her n...
He’s the guy who can get the job done. “Whatever it may be, however tall an order,” he says, “I’m your man.”
She meets him in the alleyway behind her work du...
He steers his jeep into town late one mist wreathed night when the full seed moon is muffled by cloud, a stranger whose long-gone mother told him he was a child...
I wiped my face with a paper towel to remove the streaks and spots of foundation, mascara, and lipstick. I was ten years old, helping my brother, Victor, plant ...
My friend’s mother is coming to pick me up for a sleepover so I need to quickly disguise who I really am. I spritz myself with grapefruit-lime body spray to mas...
On December 8, Santa Claus realized that it hadn’t snowed yet in any of the mountain ranges around the Inland Empire. Mount San Antonio, Mount Gorgonio, Mount S...
We used to play soccer every day.
In the beginning, Yoda encouraged us to try different surfaces like the Brazilians and pelada. Carpet in the living room, h...
As a mother, there is little option. You drag your depression everywhere. You can’t not show, and it’s not something to leave at home like a fish or cat. Your d...
Come dance. For the love of Caitlyn. She is paying this wedding DJ money, too much money for disco songs nobody recognizes. Not to trash disco. Years ago I wron...
The day after my thirty-fourth birthday, I had a dream about Lana Del Rey. In the dream me and Lana were sitting on a California beach at midnight, smoking weed...
“I don’t know where we’re going to park,” he says as they drive past the apartment. It is the first thing either of them has said the entire ride home. “Not at ...
6:31 AM
Facebook wants to know me better. “Decide what happens to your account after you pass away.” Choose a friend. Your Legacy Contact.
Too much pressu...
So much Pierre had yet to do despite twenty-eight years on this planet.
The to-dos came to him in threes (usually after his morning bowel movement). He didn’...
It was the time the dustcarts stopped coming and the city was on its knees.
We both arrived with posies. Kenzi held rosemary, a hardy aromatic, while I had w...
I order my usual. A tall latte with milk. Real boring, but I never really got into all these options. I give the guy with the vacant eyes my order. He asks for ...
He drooped in the heat like a child’s discarded ice pop. Leaning against the metal railing of an outer downtown bus stop, he blocked a fading advertis...