“First world problems kiddo,” Dad teases when I complain about my braces as we pull into the school driveway one morning. “I bet Marilyn Monroe had braces at sixteen too. She had the most perfect teeth.” He puts his convertible in park, then squeezes my …
She moved through the rain like she was a veteran in the Russian ballet, with the smooth sway of her arms at her sides and her delicate and confident steps amidst the forming puddles. She didn’t look discomfited by the wet either. Rather, she might …
The bus jolted across the dirt shoulder and skidded to a halt on the blacktop outside the diner where it sat expectantly while the dust caught up in the wheel wells drifted by and settled. The driver pushed hard on the big steel knob and …
The yellow light filtered through the shabby red curtains casting a dirty orange glow. The colour didn’t suit the faded green wallpaper. The upper edges of the wallpaper were peeling away, exposing the black mold on the plaster. She had told him to wipe the …
They reached the place they started from, the entrance to Renske Hall, and Moira had no reason anymore not to go back to her car. Ryan wasn’t much like the person she remembered. He seemed polished now, careful. And Greg had trouble shutting up. The …
I’m just gonna swoop in and out. Two minutes. Double park. Flashers on. Quick, so I decide there is no need to dress. My formal work coat hides stained sweats. I’m wearing sneakers and a Pink Floyd t-shirt. The one you washed a hundred times. …
You wake up at noon. Or rather, at noon: Gathering Potential of Self-Disgust (n) becomes so great that it exceeds Power Required For Upright (α). ∫= Lim(n→∞) ≥ α ∴∫ = 12:00, but First Alarm was set for 7:59 and you …
When I am hungry for a cigarette, really hungry for a cigarette, I knock on Mrs. Patterson’s door. I pace first, peer through my peep hole looking for signs and listening for sounds that she is at home. I count and recount loose change hoping …
My apartment. Oh, my apartment. How it breaks Kuwaiti taboo. I live in it as an unwed person. Abuse it like a true bachelor. Against Kuwaiti norms. Against Kuwaiti laws. With blind eyes turning every which way. Cash is king, second to corruption. I rent …
I told the cops, “We went as far as the car would take us.” “Why don’t we go over this one more time,” the first cop says, shaking his head. I begin again. “When it ran out of gas, we had to abandon it behind …