Streaks
byI. THE FIRST STREAK APPEARS WHEN TABITHA IS SITTING on her living room floor surrounded by hair accessories—scarves, hair ties, headbands, bobby pins, an upturned hairbrush she keeps moving out…
Stories
The Moon or Bust
byWE USED TO GO STARGAZING. Every Friday night, we would sit in the backyard and marvel at outer space while Grandpa repeatedly hummed the chorus of The Beatles, “Lucy In…
Taxidermy
byI WANTED TO BE A TAXIDERMIST FROM AN EARLY AGE. People who know me say it’s because I experienced a succession of traumatic and premature pet deaths when I was…
Y’idiot
byI’VE BEEN HOLED UP IN THE APARTMENT, waiting for eviction or my ex-girlfriend to return and pick up her things, when the phone rings. She didn’t leave much; just imitation…
The Bat
byThe day the bat burns I get my first two-piece swimsuit. It’s orange and flowered with a white trim. It’s from Goodwill and the bottoms are too big, but my…
My Friend, Thomas Jefferson
byBack when I still thought I could be something, I took a night class up at Topine Community College with this guy who believed he was Thomas Jefferson reincarnated. His…
Would You Rather
byWYR see a giant spider that spun a web next to the headboard of your bed or notice when it’s gone? If you can see it, you know where it…
Planet X and the Summer of Doom
byWhen he gets better, Jeffrey Stacker says he’s going to visit Waco, pay his respects to Koresh’s fight against the Feds. He fires another shot at the computer parts we’ve…
Land of Enchantment
byI saw every dusty town from Abilene to Tucson from the passenger seat of our ’87 Ford Ranger. My skin boasted sunburns from seven different states. When I close my…
Regrettable Things My Father, Eugene Everett, Rhythm Guitarist for the Shivering Tommys, Has Done at the Circle Bar on Tompa
byThe building, said our mother, was like a breast: round, squat, whirling turbine nipple. An obscene place for obscene behavior. But the sopaipillas were good, so on weekends we went…