"You played sports?" he asks over dinner. They're having baked chicken and baked potatoes. Clean food is how she thinks of it, only a... more

The hair monster checked out the ass of a handicapped woman. She was standing with her back turned when the... more

She was what his father, who had a Betty Grable calendar in the garage, used to call a bleached blonde, and she was kind of daffy-taffy... more

The earth is deep brown and peppered with crows. Sorry-looking cows nuzzle the frozen refuge. Two mongrel dogs, skinny,... more

Gerry let out a loud belch and tried unsuccessfully to focus on Albert.

"I've got to get her back. I miss her so... more

What was he thinking? Any one of us could've found it. Cards, letters, notes, and worst of all, photos. A woman -- a blonde, of all... more

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I'm 43. I'm sure."

"It's a big decision. It's a life."

"Don't you think I know that? I'm... more

She had death in her hands, in her heart, in the americ tang of her angry sweat: she was jealous of a piece of bread. It was a dark,... more

I.

Deirdre doesn't talk to Nicole anymore, but she thinks she does. Last winter, six months went by with neither one of them saying... more

1. Ionization

In a city where everything feels a bit belated, where the clever ones... more

Kitty peeled dead flies off the screen. She squinted in the direction of the boatyard. "No boats today," she muttered to... more

Leonard Crank is an ass. He's a beer-in-a-can-drinking, White-Owl-cigar-smoking, wife-beater-wearing, greasy-haired slug. He... more

"Rita, I know you've slept with one of your cousins," Mom told me this morning at brunch.

My stomach kicked. I stopped chewing... more

He sits in his chair, absently running his fingers through his thinning white hair. She hunches on the sofa, quivering, holding a... more

A ticket to watch Cindy do her striptease cost a dollar and an ice cream.

Terms and conditions of business were:

1) The... more

1

My father’s ashes clumped on the way to Smith Mountain Lake—it was probably the humidity. We had transferred his ashes from the... more

Dina stood on the edge of the platform. She liked to feel the rush of the subway as it roared past. It was midnight. She was coming from a... more

The next morning, you get a call from the Days Inn Akron South and he tells you he’s been in an accident. He is unhurt but crying... more

He smokes overhanded like a soldier. She notices that right away. He's hiding the glowing ember in the cup of his hand just like he's... more

“Matsuzaka’s pitching motion is an elegant haiku, beauty captured in three parts separated by two... more

Mark took a pencil out of his royal blue gym bag. He hunted for a scrap of notebook paper, something to write on, but all he could... more

It's the middle of May, and the temperature has leveled off at a balmy 42 degrees at 7:30 p.m . This is why there were only... more

Outside the apartment I'm leaving, in a spread out triangle of park benches on an oversized traffic island lined around the... more

Eadweard Muybridge invented the photographic process called stop-motion photography, his most famous a series of... more

The man wiped his mouth with a silk handkerchief embroidered with his initials ($75.- a piece). He had just... more