Before a place can become a place, it must have secrets. A boy goes to a field where five sheep have died. In search of something conclusive, a way to proceed. There is no trace of carnage: wolf, coyote. The ground is frozen, snowless. The boy kicks at the soil with the worn toe of…

Badal had choreographed many fierce duels in his time. Take for instance the battle between his chestnut-brown pheasant and a gray rooster of foreign breed that his opponent bought at a high price. The gray bird jostled nobly but in the end Badal’s pheasant spattered its entrails. During the few minutes Badal’s birds took to…

I’m awakened by a long, continuous horn. The vibrating sound appears to elevate the kitchen floor to knee-high. I stand barefoot for a while before realizing my feet are cold. I have lost my socks somewhere under the blankets, during the night. I return to the bedroom and do a search and rescue, revering my…

1. You don’t have to be famous to be featured on SpecialRequest. It’ll drive your rate up, sure, but it’s not a requirement. Most of the profiles on the app are people who were famous two decades ago — reality show contestants, leathery pro-wrestlers, washed-up political trolls, Dave Coulier. And Damon. This is about Damon.…

I hadn’t been in a fight since the regional jail. Even then, I turtled and let my bigger, uglier opponent whale on me until the other inmates pulled him off before the guards came. Those guards saw the scuffle from their mirrored tower, but when they stormed the block, their cans of pepper spray ready,…

Summers were endless then. The few days spent by the seaside with my parents were followed by weeks of boredom. I have no brothers or sisters, and none of my friends lived nearby. For some strange reason, in my childhood neighborhood there were only childless couples. You could never hear the screams of children playing,…

I was twelve and my brother Daniel was nine when we began our lessons with Sister Marie. She’d somehow gotten word of the boys living motherless on a farm ten miles out in the Puyallup Valley, unable to read or write. She sent a letter to our father informing him that she was worried for…

What it felt like: A hole in the sky to see through. Staring at the too-bright page craving ready revelation, something like, Oh my God, I am or Oh my God, I love or Oh my God, I will. Reaching out both hands and each returning full of what’s there waiting, American idiom. In the…

Somebody gets in touch on her work email, sends photos. “I know what you’ve done. I’m sure your husband would love to see these.” Her leatherette chair folds its wings about her, light from the man-size windows lays her bare. Jamie waits for her to read out some numbers. She stares at the phone in…

The porch was cluttered, though at dusk under the burned-out bulb I couldn’t have told you with what, and the screen door banged shut behind us as we walked inside. They didn’t have central air, so the blinds were drawn all day, and in the evenings they opened the doors and windows to get the…

It is a cold night and Olivia has left me. I would attempt telling you about it, but the empty corners of my room have more to say. I’m too busy falling apart. What can I say? It is a cold night, Olivia has left me, I am falling apart. What do you want me…

On the limestone platform jutting into the Great Sound social distancing was unfeasible, but Qisha felt obligated to stay within earshot. Dr. Brillard would perhaps care to know the names of the islands across the water, hardly more than bits of rock, or what lay beyond on the rugged horizon where the Cathedral and BELCO’s…