It's Christmas Eve, our birthday's less than an hour away, and, per Tannen family tradition, it's Davie's and my first night... more

The winter I turned twenty-seven, I followed a woman who said she might love me to a small town in Northwest Pennsylvania, a go-between... more

He could not look at the dog's eyes, light brown, like the sky before it started to rain. "Come on," Vassil said. The dog slowly followed him... more

There is much to admire in the life and work of the author Michael Kimball: his sentence craft, his innovation,... more

1.

The sign is taped to a post and weathered and tattered as it is, it would be easy to believe that it has been there for... more

Conversation

She had nine faces already, and each time she began to talk a new one was added. "How does she manage to do that?"... more

My boyfriend and I have sex and when we're finished he holds me close and whispers into my ear, I just date-raped you. What do you do... more

I bought a storefront in town, a Walgreen's that kicked the bucket some months back. The townspeople speculated on what I'd turn it into.... more

In a walk-in closet, my father's ties were exactly six centimeters apart on wooden dowels. I gently touched the gaps between his ties... more

Leni Zumas' wonderful book Farewell Navigator is full of the kinds of stories I love and the kind of writing I envy.... more

We'd just eaten a steak dinner. I'd handled the salad and the baked potatoes, my husband had grilled the steaks. Bottle of wine on the table,... more

Sumatra, Indonesia, 1963

The hibiscus hedge is the boundary line the girl is not supposed to cross. Sometimes, for something to... more

Those days I believed in Body over Mind. I believed Mind followed Body because I knew matter could think. I was a cook in this little... more

They think I don't hear their whispers, but I do. Even with a bathroom between our bedrooms, all I have to do is put my ear to the wall... more

Cathy Day grew up in Peru, Indiana, where the Great Porter Circus lodged from 1884 to 1939. Her first book, The Circus... more

I met her on the corner of a street and an avenue. "We didn't fix anything," she told me. She was no-nonsense, a fast-walker,... more

A man had many things hanging off of his body. There were two arms, two legs, a hose. Mostly though there were a number of barbed hooks,... more

It reminds me of the swimming pool game when I was a child, eyes closed, calling, and the others answering as I struggled, not knowing how... more

My mother is in every room of her house. The kitchen keeps her fingerprints in the flour jar, her lipstick stains on the wine... more

I discovered Yannick Murphy through her Bookworm interview and bought a copy of Here They Come (McSweeney's Books,... more

Sex and Kindness

Rachel left Mac and walked down the dirt road next to the river. She was leaving him for good. A truck drove... more

Transportation

Come dusk the lie will prevail, and even those who know... more

"I don't really know how to put it across," said the private detective.

Birds of spring flew across the bright sky behind the... more

Miguel speaks Spanish and I speak Spanish and Miguel has no idea I do. He lays block while I bring block... more

Temporary People is subtitled "A Fable." What does that mean to you? And how do you think the fable adapts to... more

ADLERIAN THEORY

A little girl in a red princess-style coat with a checkered lining, aged three. She's on tiptoe on... more