An exclamatory text derived from the Synoptic and Canonical Gospels + Matthew! If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! And he stretched forth his…

Gabby and Morgan meet for lunch every Friday afternoon. Today they’re at Golden Brown, a new homestyle restaurant in town. “I love these menus,” Gabby says. “Pictures.” “I don’t love our waitress,” Morgan says. “She is not fat enough.” “She’s got foster mother written all over her.” “Maybe she’ll adopt us. After lunch.” They examine…

My twin called this morning to ask what I was wearing. “Seriously?” “I need to know.” We’re forty-three. He just can’t give it up. My brother is deeply into twin lore. Twinness has been his obsession since birth. He reads every book on twins that comes out, even the scholarly studies and the coffee table…

Forrester Young wanted a smaller cigarette. The prop man—everybody on the set called him Props—was summoned and the problem was explained. But Props didn’t understand. He turned to his assistant, who was also his daughter. He said to her, “Aren’t cigarettes cigarettes?” “These cigarettes are too big for the frame,” the director said. “Forrester’s face…

Diner had a waitress with one leg. Peg was her name. The short order cook was missing his right arm. His name was Peg, too. I washed the dishes. Correction: I washed the dirty dishes. Got into a shit-load of trouble my first day on the job when I washed the clean dishes. I felt…

Look at little Gene dance. Spinning. Swinging his arms. Kicking out. His head down and then up. Look at his face. He’s ecstatic. What’s going through his mind? I call out to little Gene, This is a kolomeike, my boy. All the other kids are watching Gene dance. They are dancing like Gene. Kids love…

This happened a very long time ago and it happened to me while I was sleeping and my father did it. It happened because I would, on occasion, hold my breath as I slept, at least, that’s what I have always been told. I had to be watched through the night and shaken awake from…

Noah Kennedy, four years old, is drunk again. Due to an acid-base enzyme imbalance in the lining of his mouth, his saliva instantly ferments all liquids to alcohol. Megan Kennedy was called megaphone because she didn’t need one. Mrs. Kennedy recalled listening to Noah crying in his crib at night. He was almost two and…

Dan Morone gets up at the sound of the alarm clock and makes his way to the kitchen. He starts the coffeemaker. He knows that he’s still sleeping. He laughs. His wife kisses him on the cheek on her way to the coffeemaker. Wake up, Dan, she says. Dan laughs. I’m awake, he says. But…

I make lists all the time, most often in e-mails to close friends or to traumatize myself with everything I need to accomplish or to remind myself to buy a case of Diet Cherry Pepsi, the One True Carbonated Beverage. I like lists. They help me order my thoughts and they’re fun to write. I…

I live with a man and sometimes he has a beard. I do not care for beards on a man. When we kiss, his beard makes me feel raw. He knows this. I tell him I want to see his face because it is a handsome face. I like to hold his bare cheeks between…

Q. How did this story come about? I’ve always enjoyed the phrase, “hiding in plain view,” and that’s what wanted to capture with this piece, the idea that everything is right there, at all times, for the taking. It’s just a matter of understanding what the veils are and how to remove them. I also…