Fiction

The Man at the Gate

He stood in the shadows as usual, as Charlotte had come to expect. He was a part, by now, of the quiet late afternoon street that gathered her in when the working day was over. It was dusk, early spring. The air was warmish, and as Charlotte rounded the corner she could smell the honeysuckle,…

Bodies Like Mouths

During the winter of 1955, Chris took courses at Columbia. He came from Indianapolis; New York stunned him. Knowing nothing, he took a room in a railroad flat uptown near school: one room, 11 x 7, bed with a defeated mattress. It was cheap, and he could use the kitchen along with the three other…

Harry Murphy

– I just read a learned article on Nutrition and Behavior and my intelligence was severely dimmed, darkened and demonized. – I am trying, was trying to help Cynthia write a paper summarizing the last six months of our romance for the Ford Foundation. The coverup story is about Nutrition and Neurological Disturbances but I…

Boomerang Tears

Report: Bonnie Brown-committed 1971, age fifteen. Lesbian, user of hallucinogenics, murder suspect. Note: Dr. Frond-This patient has refused to see any of our doctors since she was admitted three years ago. Because of her supposed potential violence she has to be on complete security. She recently requested to have an appointment with a doctor, and…

The New World

The Puritan, like a memento mori grinning from a mirror, is still among us. Relentlessly, he reminds himself and us of our longings to shatter his image with the possibility of rebirth, of conversion, of utter transformation. But now, after tens of generations of staring stubbornly into himself, as if into the white night of…

A House to Let

`Over there, Bart, on the other side of the street,' Ella said, pointing to a vacant house, its uncurtained windows pasted with placards. It was an evening in early spring and they were strolling back along Rathmines Road in the last of the light, going towards Ella's house, which was just off the main road….

Going After Cacciato

It was a bad time. Billy Boy Watkins was dead, and so was Frenchie Tucker. Billy Boy had died of fright, scared to death on the field of battle, and Frenchie Tucker had been shot through the neck. Lieutenants Sidney Martin and Walter Gleason had died in tunnels. Pederson was dead and Bernie Lynn was…