(Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1995) It sounds better in French—a language you don’t speak and one I barely understand, squinting to keep track of the subtitles in our fifth-floor walk-up on Amsterdam and 106th, where, as the tape shifts from supply to take up reel, you predict one day you’ll give birthto a son …
I was six years old when my mother’s ex-boyfriend moved in next to us. My family was living in a tiny stucco house with a view of our next-door neighbor’s garden shed, and this was where Kenneth P. took up residence. He renovated the shed himself, nailing on a tin roof, installing a functional toilet, …
What can starting over even mean? “Check yard signs,” the realtor says to me and Daniel when we’re looking at houses in North Carolina. “Which signs are people sticking in their front yards? That says everything about the neighborhood.” Everything emphasized, everything pointing to subtext she doesn’t trust we’ll get because we’re northern and, this …
Neil had volunteered to cook. Inez’s best friend, Beach, was coming in from the West Coast, and she felt he could use a home-cooked meal. Inez and Beach dated briefly in college, and while Neil hadn’t unriddled all the details of their breakup, the short of it was that they preferred each other’s company in …
On the first of the month, she miscarried in the shower. At her last checkup the ultrasound tech on duty had told her that her baby was about the size of a baby rabbit. It felt strange to hear that, because they usually compared the size to some kind of fruit or another type of …
Alex, um, it’s dad, Michael, again. I’m waiting for Susan my wife to get here, we’re supposed to go to the, uh, dentist, she’s supposed to be here, I think. I don’t know what to do, call me again, I’m just so miserable being here alone wishing to be with you and [sigh] you know …
Congratulations. It’s Michael, it’s your father. I’m so proud, I’m so proud of you, and, wait ow, I just dropped something here, wait don’t leave. I, well, I heard the, Greg told me that, that you guys had the baby today, and umm, I’m very proud of you, I’m so proud of you, both of …
that the Green Power Ranger held to his mouth that was both dagger and flute Tommywould call to his zord in the ocean watch it rise from the watereach time the same clip was used the water lookedto be almost boiling as the zord rose swung its tail wideand this morning I wake to the …
Six days after the Titanic sank,the SS Bremen steamed into the same corridor of cold Atlantic waters.During breakfast, the crew began to sight white dots like seagulls on the waves.Their calls pulled the passengers awayfrom their coffee and strudel, brought them to the deck where at first they squinted, then recoiled.Chunks of ice, broken planks …
we die. that’s always the answer. if things keep up as they do, I’m going to seal the whole world into a jell-o mold, I’m going to run down the street throwing ashes. my uterus will literally leave my body & probably assassinate someone, then we will both retreat to the wildernessas is the way …