Fiction

The Man in Question

I wasn’t surprised when I heard the stories about him on the news. Because of what had happened. Because of his—antics, his demeanor, maybe you’d say. I knew him back then and it’s been a long time now. But still.   He was an athlete, yes, but he had long, thin fingers, like a piano…

La Dolce Vita

The doors open into a spectacle of love. A Celebration of Love, according to the red letters scrolling across the marquee. White orchids, pink peonies, and red roses strewn across shimmering chandeliers. On stage, beneath strobe lights, a six-man ballet troupe with tense quadriceps and purple velvet sashes—but now with streaking faces, like melting dolls….

Gallery

Today I took the morning off and went to the art gallery in our neighborhood. It still amazes me that I live in a neighborhood that has an art gallery. It amazes me that I own a home, that I have children. What happened between ages thirty and forty to get me here? How did…

Slip, Fall

It was a biblical June. All Connecticut Junes are wet, but this year the rain refused to quit. The year-rounders shook their heads, apologizing to the summer folks for the weather, as though they were somehow responsible for the ruined picnics and flooded back roads. They had never in all their years seen the likes….

Reasonable & Prudent

Closing in on Missoula from NYC, she’s sped through ten states, stopping only for gas and an Airbnb in Minnesota. You’d think she’d be relieved or feel something like anticipation, but her eyes are half-lidded, devoid of all emotion. The speed-limit sign clearly says 80 mph now, and the Big Sky is no sky at…

Lost and Found

It’s not that I think Elodie borrowed my vintage Balenciaga coat on purpose the day she disappeared, and I am just as desperate as the others to find her, but I hadn’t wanted to relinquish the coat and wonder now, if I had held firm, would it still be in its cedar-lined box under my…

Air Quality

Cora holds the baby until Matt leans in and takes her back. She can smell the oily lank of his hair, the sweet of his breath. She’d suggested a hotel room—there must be something nearby, she said, but her daughter insisted she stay in the apartment with them. Families belong together, she said. Cora’s daughter…

Oasis Room

Before, the space, the first floor of my apartment building that was rented out to business, had been an Escape the Room. Groups of friends booked and were trapped in adventure rooms, then given an hour to find a way out. The game was supposedly great for team-building, or so advertised the storefront posters, but…