offering

“Let’s see it,” I said the day after my student got his first tattoo. It was a nice grisly tattoo, suggesting to the viewer that death was not to be feared, though when I looked at it, lo, I felt fearful. “It hurt right here,” he said. “This part didn’t hurt. Look how it’s shaded.” […]

December Stories part Deux

Story: my friend had a mouse infestation. She had cleaned up this mouse mess on her own several times, but the mice had returned. Her apartment management company has been a complete dick about it, blaming her, refusing to do any pest control. I gathered with a couple of do-gooders and we donned tyvec suits […]

unhistoric acts

My dad goes in for a memory test. He thinks he didn’t do well. I could hold this test down and punch it until it passed out, gushing blood from its nose, and sorry. Our identity, mine, my mom’s, my dad’s, rests on being the smart one, the clever one, the one who goes faster, […]

the sun with eyes closed

My dad said, “Your car looks great!” My dad cares about cars being clean, and in my middle age, I have begun to care, as well. The previous week I had crowned my Friday work day with a trip to the car wash, where I sat and imagined the spouts and flaps were monsters with […]