P.W. & I are doing internships at the Capitol as (for all intents and purposes) bus boys to run meaningless errands for randomly assigned U.S. Senators. The random assignment is part of the deal, they explain — like a lesson in how you don’t always get what you want and how sometimes you need to […]
P.W. & I are on our way to a lecture about architecture “between the wars”. This whole “between the wars” thing is mostly P.’s deal but we’ve heard the lecturer before and he’s an animated character that tends to be pretty funny. As we get further down the block and then into the lecture hall […]
I am returning to St. Mary’s for one last semester. My room assignment is a single but when I arrive, it’s entirely too large. Almost three times the size that I expect. And there are closets along every interior wall. And all of my stuff is already here; my belongings are disorganized and stacked strangely […]
Sitting in a local bar, the lights dim and mostly neon ad lights reflected in the mirrors and other shiny surfaces. Samuel L. Jackson tends bar while the natives are telling stories about … me? They’re laudatory and embarrassing and patently untrue. These stories are not necessarily lies but they’re blowing these events out of […]
The scene is very much The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Wire. I am deep under cover, wired up and broadcasting every word spoken inside the mountain-top compound of these religious zealouts. So few babies are born, The Colonels have created harems for themselves, determined to beat nature’s pruning through statistically significant levels of progeny. But […]
The conference hall is permeated by a smell; the only applicable adjective is evil. I have snuck in, stealing an ill-fitting Soviet officer’s uniform. Even though the attire helps me to blend right in, I still find myself dashing under table cloths whenever no one is looking. They have gathered for a training exercise in […]
I’m on the crew that is responsible for refreshing a Shaw’s every two-to-three quarters. It happens at night, secretly. So you’ll never notice. Some of it you might notice. The deep cleaning, fresh paint, floors mopped and waxed, the shelves reconfigured; sometimes it’s a little more obvious than not. The part that always bugs me […]
We’re out front of a hotel, waiting for a cab when we see him. He’s just a little kid — he’s maybe six years old. But there he is, breaking glass bottles on the street. At first it’s a little funny. “Ha! Look at that kid smash those bottles!” But it isn’t long before smashing […]
I’m at my grandparents’ house and I dash into the bathroom to use the toilet. Moments after I sit down, there’s a loud sound at the door. I think it’s someone knocking but before I can open my mouth to shout, my brother breaks down the door. His face is red, veins are bulging from […]
So much noise from the condo below us. So much screaming. They must have a million voices down there. A million droning groans. A million zombie renters. Quick! Lock the doors! Bar them! Barricade! But no sooner does the deadbolt turn then we notice the cat has slipped out. They’ll eat him! Instead, they come […]