Look, Ty says, peeling off his gloves. Three full bags. Can’t we just do this tomorrow? It’s the rattlesnake migration again. Each year, falsely anticipated in early May. Each year, left to you and Ty, who doesn’t like you anymore, but who doesn’t think you know. A stretch of interstate’s been cordoned off; heat surges…

The husband is shapeless, like looking at something through gasoline fumes. He lacks the sharp definitions associated with those who take action. The husband and wife eat tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. Part of the husband’s incisor breaks off on a crisp piece of celery — that is how fragile he is. His wife is…

Father’s glances held Kilea to her seat, pinpricking up the bones of her back to the nape of her neck. Her brain throbbed against the inside of her skull, just slower than the pain pulse; colours twisted together into her muscles. Every now and then, the beat of both stuck, making it hard to get…

I’m a line-sit for the Ultimate Roller Coaster. At first, I thought the job would be depressing, everyone standing in line waiting to ride-n-die, but what I do is altruistic. I’m helping my clients out, making it easier for them to accept the end. At my last job, Forever Nails, I hated the clients. The…

One night Larry discovered a naked man who looked exactly like him. He was lugging a bag of trash out through the staff entrance of Mr. B’s Roast Beef when he saw the man stir by the dumpster. He was startled at first, then annoyed, assuming the man was one of the belligerent homeless guys…

Late in the night the cats took up meowing, nearing a howl. Geneva and Cheri heard them at the same moment — Geneva lying on top of the covers of the mattress she slept on and Cheri tucked tightly into her childhood single bed. Both of them left their windows open a crack each night…

Before the Earth was formed, with all its size and splendor, there existed a much smaller world that God built for practice. The to-do list loomed in front of Him, every creation to come, sketched in blazing fits of ego, but He was still young then, neurotic and nervous, not yet brimming with the Old-Testament…

How can Restorall help? Restorall reduces excessive brain activity that can lead to anxiety or insomnia, increasing total sleep time. + What can be expected from Restorall after one dose? Very simply, a good night’s sleep. You wake refreshed and ready to start the day. While Restorall cannot replace the husband you resent for not…

You say this is the worst thing I could do. You almost have it together but your voice snags on the last word. I know this will make you furious with yourself. Your pride is keeping your spine straight and your voice low, but the emotion you show in that one word is unmistakable. I…

An excerpt from a novel-in-progress Our hearts are concrete, poured over the stars and left to harden in the windless void. We are ash in the throat of man, ground dust under his boot heels. Long, long ago, before we were born or made or sprung from man’s fancies and our father’s head, a single…

1. The Magician had six toes on his left foot. He had four on his right. He often thought that if he had been a better magician — one with something more than a store-bought wand — he would have been able to even things out some. But he was not that better magician. The…

Stage #1: Conquest After the death of a favorite wife, it is natural to feel disorientated and adrift, as if moving unsteadily through a thick fog. This is because your first response to bereavement was to assemble an invasion fleet bound for Japan — in itself, a usual part of learning to manage and understand…