My wife, LauraBeth, and I bought our first house in 2006, in the New Jersey suburbs. I was twenty-four and she was twenty-three. We had money for a down payment because her mother had died and left behind some insurance money. We purchased the house for $175,000, at what I later learned was an obscene …
They gaggle into the pool hall trailing black feathers every Saturday after work, not really girls but women. But I am so old, women that young are still girls and my twenty-two-year-old coworker is Son, can you get me the broom. Don’t “Son” me! Javier says. What do I know? They arrive, the five of …
Little is known about the history of fog. But it is water—billions of microscopic droplets suspended above the earth—and it comes eight ways. Hovering close to the ground, it is the most common, radiation fog. Floating above the lowest points in Appalachia, it is valley fog. Fog drawn inland from the Pacific, or the San …
I discovered Kurt Vonnegut’s work at the onset of that long fever known as adolescence. We didn’t have smartphones back then to rescue us from the twin plagues of doubt and boredom. So we walked around with ancient devices tucked into our back pockets. These devices had only one app. You opened them and scanned …
Liveaboards In my new island life, I am a woman on the beach, all wrapped against the wind. It is not sunny. I am no longer young. The skies are gray; perhaps it is misting or has misted or will mist. I am not old. The water is choppy, little whitecaps rolling in like glimpses …
1 I ask them what they think about. Truly, whatever’s on your mind. Write it down. Anonymously. The mundane. The trivial. The serious. The sublime. Work, one writes. Sleep. Dexter. My best friend’s cystic fibrosis. Stress, says another. Responsibility. Israel. Career. Money, another says. Sandwiches. Parties. Girlfriends. Being an asshole, someone writes, and following, in …
For the children.editors’ note: Newtown is commissioned by American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Public Theater. This excerpt consists of the play’s first act. Punctuation and capitalization choices indicate rhythm and pacing.Characters:Nancy (52)Adam (20)Place & Time:I: A house. December 14, 2012. II: The White House. i: Adam’s mother …
from a novel-in-progress Something had gone wrong. Gracie had arrived just when she said she would, on the final ferry of the day, the winter light dimming over the course of the two-hour journey east, and she unable to enjoy the drama of the ocean, the air too bitterly cold for standing on deck, the …
The first woman Mom brought home was a server from Thai Fantastic.That night, the curtained strip-mall restaurant was cleared out, andwe had our pick of the seven Formica tables. We’d arrived long pasta normal dinner hour, but it didn’t matter when Mom got hungry.Our happiness in those days was hitched to her eating, and cravingstypically …
The dog seller hawks mangy curs across from me at the flea market. Misty brings me a cherry slushie like she’s a woman who takes care of her man. Don’t think I don’t notice she makes a big show of it for mister dog seller. The son of a bitch wears clean overalls. He’s bigger …