I’ve never been in a tornado. But the landscapes of my childhood dreams were ravaged by them. Brought on by the trauma in my waking hours, my tornado dreams were prolific, and proved to be, prophetic. The first, an EF-1, to spin its massive cone into my dreams, did so...
Issue Twelve
The Truth or Something Like It
I met Joe Nuxhall a few weeks after my fifteenth birthday. His hands were gnarled, and he spoke as though his mouth was half full of marbles, but he was sharp and funny as hell. I was only a few months younger than he was when he made his Major League debut....
Liar
Nick and Crystal once talked about everything: their fantasies, their future plans and dreams. Longing and indebtedness and contentment and obligation. Now it is a lazy Sunday morning, both of them wearing boxer shorts and tees. She sits in the lotus position on the...
Today, with me, in Paradise
He smelled of hemp and strangled throats, but then again, no one ever imagines him that way. The First Century was a splendid time to be alive. A splendid time, indeed. The Pax Romana, the Roman Age of Peace, held sway over all the living and all the dead.. The Roman...
Rope Trick
To prove our love, we strung the tightrope across the backyard. We climbed on at opposite ends. The boughs of the two elms sagged with our weight. We steadied ourselves against the trunks; we each goaded the other to go first. Neither of us would let go of the...
Woman Reclining
I study my frame in the mirror. I admire its slender lines, gilded edges and the ornate corners that curl and spiral in a decadent flourish. The frame is new. Tim said it was too expensive and there’s no guaranteed bonus this year with the way things are. Barbara...
Ethnic and Kosher
I lose him at the corner of Ethnic and Kosher. He trails behind me, distracted by a colorful display of artificial chrysanthemums and carnations, votive candles, and sugar skulls—a mock shrine honoring the dead, all while selling taco shells and salsa. “Mama, look!”...
Jump
The man didn’t try to put me at ease, by acting as if we were on a date as some of them did, inquiring as to which radio station I preferred, offering me a toke. His breath was foul and his double knit brown suit was a joke, no reason to be afraid. I told myself he’d...
Lithosphere
My phone screen reads: Magnitude 3.7. The shaking lasts only a few seconds. I’m an amateur seismologist as well as real estate expert, like any good Californian. Californians both old and new are preoccupied with the security of the ground and the space on that...
Blood Histories
At one point in history, there was a girl who saved herself from history. How pretty she was is not important. Which of her parents sent her out into the world—inconsequential. What does matter is that she did the opposite of what she had always wanted because what...