Once upon a time there lived a boy named Victor. Victor was a very sick child. He could not go outside to play with the other children. He couldn’t go for walks in the part or play on the sports teams. He couldn’t even go to school. Except for his … Continue reading
There was once a little American girl who liked to feed birds. There’s nothing unusual about that, you might think. Lots of little girls are American and a great many of them also feed birds. What was unusual, because a part of this story is true, is that the birds … Continue reading
The delta counter decremented to zero and Zachary Emilio Fuentes swore in frustration. He slapped the side of the cryo-cooled cabinet and stalked away to pace in the open end of the lab. Lydia Marchand raised an eyebrow, but that was the extent of her acknowledgement concerning Zef’s behavior. It … Continue reading
I got the call last Wednesday at 10 pm. I know it can’t be good news. Even though we both live in Chicago, my sister never calls just to talk. “Hey, Dufus.” No response to the hated nickname. It really must be serious. “It’s time, Marcus. If you’re coming, you … Continue reading
“Full house: Queens over Fours.” The cards fan out for everyone to see, but it don’t matter, the guy sitting behind them’s been a hot streak all night. With that win, he’s turned eighty-three bucks into almost four thousand. He stacks his chips up all anal-like while the dealer sends … Continue reading
The people not cool enough for nightclubs meet in pubs and bars where their voices compete with, and are lost in, a pulsating mixture of feel-good music and big screen sports. They shriek at one another clutching over-priced drinks, strike poses, and adopt exaggerated expressions in order to be understood. … Continue reading
I had a slowly rolling metal ball in my gut. That’s the feeling, at least. It had spikes that patiently tore at everything in me that was once peaceful. It never rested, it never stopped, and because it never left me it seemed to promise that it would remain for … Continue reading
The angrier Tate Gibson got, the more amusing his wife found it. “Why don’t you go over there and talk to her?” Abby asked. “I shouldn’t have to go over there. She shouldn’t be playing her music so loud.” He shook his head. “If I had known the walls were … Continue reading
The hem of Anne’s dress draped over a box of TNT. She’d been sitting in the shade of the wagon for most of the day while her father drove the horses forward. The flat plains had given way to the Black Hills mountains and the scent of fresh pine was … Continue reading
The Penhurst contract had been a weird one – one of those shake-your-head-and-laugh-about-it-over-beers-later sort of capers – but, all in all, it had been a good job and well accomplished . . . right up until the close. When your client pulls a gun on you, it has a tendency … Continue reading
