A car nearing the end of its life pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall. The car came to a stop in front of a store with a sign reading “Fine Wine and Spirits.” The driver turned off the engine. He was an older man with a days’ growth of white whiskers. The … Continue reading THAT TIME OF YEAR

Neal Smith runs a clean dish towel down the polished wood of his bar, wiping away the last remnants of the soapy water he just used to clean the beer and nut shells off the syrup-colored surface when the kid comes in the bar. Dressed in dark clothing, wearing a rolled stalking cap, dark eyes … Continue reading A ROBBED RETIREMENT

My sister, inside the violin, whispering to me in her little voice, even after her big death; eternally a small, wiry thing, and some grieving later my parents encourage me to play again, probably on the advice of Lindy, the child shrink, Give Her Space, it’s sunny out, rain forecast, I start to play, and … Continue reading PRACTICING

The town bristled with thorns of emerald and ruby as the throngs that lined the winding hillside streets exhaled plumes of smoke up to the black sky like so many larval dragons. The gutters and lampposts were wound with the weedy spiked snakes, that grasped that town, like so many others, at the end of … Continue reading THE PARADE

A crone in black wool dark in the doorway. Zoom in on her hands, knuckles thick with long work and the skin lined as dense as pile knit. She holds antlers worn smooth by years of worry and clicks them together for the bony and rhythmic score as we open, panning slow over the coarse … Continue reading NOAIDI (TRAILER FOR A CHRISTMAS MOVIE)

A Patrick Midnight Tale A cranky Patrick Midnight showed his identification card to the nervous private. Midnight read the nametag aloud.  “Where are you from, Private Miller?”  “Maine, sir.”  “Ah, a fellow New Englander. And don’t call me ‘sir.’ I was just a corporal for the old eagle.” Midnight told a truth and a lie. … Continue reading MIDNIGHT’S CHRISTMAS

When he gets home from Chevron the Clerk finds his dog lying dead on the couch. It must have died cozy and warm while looking out the window of the trailer at the desert. Old age, he figures. Maybe dog cancer. The Late Night Gas Station Clerk feels more relieved than sad. He loved the … Continue reading LATE NIGHT GAS STATION CLERK

So, yes, for a while the only things I really knew about her was her name, that she lived in Montreal, and that I loved her. And, moreover, yes: I would lay awake at night, high for the I-don’t-knowth day in a row, craving a cigarette in spite of all that had already dried out … Continue reading DEGREES OF OBSCENITY

a version of this story was first published at Tough in May, 2019 The waitress studied the man seated at his customary window table. She caught him looking at her three or four times since taking his order. There. He looked at her again. She’d watched the man all week. He’d visited the restaurant seven … Continue reading THE BLIND

Everything that comes into being has a purpose, a role, a place in the web of existence. A horse, a tree, a stream, the grass, the sun…What is the purpose—to enjoy pleasure? See what reason and common sense have to say about that. Nature doesn’t just create and sustain things; it directs them to their … Continue reading A BLACK CLOUD FOR ST. LUCIA DAY