It took a silvery sliver of a second. I was only thirteen. It happened so long ago… Then why does it still weigh me down like a pair of gangster-style cement shoes? The sudden snap of light startled me from my transition into sleep…. I’d been edging into the relief of a dream…and then myContinue reading “Smothered Under Heavy Cement…”
Category Archives: Slice of Life
“Joe Here.”
“Joe here,” was the way Joe answered the phone when he was behind his desk at the law offices of Sobchak & Sobchak. “Joe here,” he’d say. Every single time. He never juggled anything up. He was staid and steadfast when it came to telephone etiquette. Joe never flirted with variety. His delivery was deadpan, allContinue reading ““Joe Here.””
The Found Tape
On October 24, 1993, while walking home from school, I found an old audio cassette by the roadside. It was a TDK 90 minute tape. The label on side 2 had been peeled off. About eight inches of tape were tangled and hanging out of the cassette. I managed to wind the tape back upContinue reading “The Found Tape”
The Crooner
The Crooner sat alone in his dressing room. He’d draped an old, stained tablecloth over the mirror and had unscrewed most of the light-bulbs around the frame. Dressing room lights were always too bright and the mirrors captured too many hard memories. He wore his life on his face. He lifted a pint of whiskeyContinue reading “The Crooner”
Imagining the Ordinary
It started with the teabags, but before that. It’s hard to be certain when an adventure really begins but if I had to stick a pin into a point and make a mark, it wouldn’t be with the worms, it would be with the teabags. Memories bleed into dreams. Or is it the other wayContinue reading “Imagining the Ordinary”
Adipocere
The story begins…. Becky stood on the rocky shore listening to the edges of the ocean. The lap and scatter of small seaweed-laden waves. She’d hoped the sudden change in environment would loosen the choking, unremitting clench of her life. Therapy wasn’t going well. Her therapist (Nancy) suggested this trip. She (Nancy) said that gettingContinue reading “Adipocere”
Pull Me Apart and Analyze the Pieces
Shelly pinched a nit between her index finger and thumb and then carefully slid it down her long strands of hair until it released at the end. She held it in a firm pinch-grip and transferred it to the stark white void of the bedsheet. It was like a little operating theater. She wished forContinue reading “Pull Me Apart and Analyze the Pieces”
Mortified
We’re sitting on the porch again, drinking spiced rum and Red Bull. Her dirty bare feet rest on an ottoman of three stacked tires. She waves a fly away from her face and says, “I’ve been evaluating myself.” “Oh yeah?” I say after a sip of my rapidly warming drink. We’re drinking out of StyrofoamContinue reading “Mortified”
The Fictitious Kid
She had a fictitious kid. We were sitting on her porch, drinking Ballantine Ale out of a grubby Styrofoam cooler with missing pieces. A slow moat surrounded the leaking cooler, expanding with the gradual melt. In front of us was a narrow strip of dirt and crabgrass scattered with worn out toys. Her fictitious kidContinue reading “The Fictitious Kid”
Unidentified Flying Object
We’re sitting on her porch, the trusty Styrofoam cooler between us. There’s a broken hole in the lid now. It was an accident. I’m drinking 32-ounce cans of Colt 45 malt liquor. I love the buzz but it always gives me a headache-heavy hangover. I believe it’s worth it. She’s drinking peach wine coolers forContinue reading “Unidentified Flying Object”
Crumbling Asphalt 