The Big Click

She stood on the sidewalk, waited for her light to change. I’d been going the other direction but my light was green so I crossed, joined her on the corner. She was very pretty, she smelled good, and she was less than half my age. Three for three. “Hey,” I said, and stood next to her. […]

The room’s dark, cracked walls comfort Sparrow. The backroom of the club has fifteen vanities crammed around the border, towering, wooden monstrosities that rise almost to the ceiling, none of which match, except for the flaking paint. The free space in the center of the room is tiny but it’s enough for over a dozen […]

1. The Ghost Bells Tavern off Highway Seven is our first stop on our last night in the river bottoms. We watch the men and women when they’re happy and think of our fathers because surely they were happy once too. It’s impossible to imagine a life, a real life and think that a person […]

After Denker had dressed in his white shirt and black twill pants and had donned his yarmulke, he came into the kitchen to find his wife sitting at the table. Her chair was scooted a few inches away from the table to accommodate her pregnant belly. On the table was the half-finished pair of pink […]

1) You’re a killer because you say “Goodbye, Tiffany,”to the college girl passing your butter and white bread across the scanner at the grocery store, even though her name tag is scarred and beaten and only visible in flashes under the windbreaker she’s got on because the register is right by the front door, and […]

It’s the top of round three in a four round fight. You’ve never been knocked out before, but when a vicious uppercut connects with your chin, you wonder if you’re about to find out how it feels. Your mind fights for control of your body. Your knees wobble. Ten minutes ago, you saw Olympic gold. […]

Tobin tossed aside his half-eaten pastrami on a Kaiser roll. He had sliced onion in his sandwich and had plopped a swath of mustard on his food as well. The paper plate the sandwich and some potato chips were on slid across the small table and fell to the floor. He shot to his feet […]

I backed the Ford up to the cliff and hung the tail bed over the gorge. Popping the e‑brake in place, I took a draw on the Camel, down to the butt, and flicked it out the window. When it flicked, I nearly popped a nail. The edges were coming up. Damn press-ons. The money […]

Jack glanced again at the little glyph on the window frame that looked vaguely Mayan and realized that he didn’t know if it was something that had survived in the culture or some thing someone had revived from reading Popol Vul in middle school. Or did the Nicaraguans have middle school? They did teach Popol […]

It was going on a week I was out sick. I had to get back to work soon or UPS would fire me. People love to see me coming with another crockpot or box of books, but my back doesn’t love it. Being out sick, I spent a lot of time watching. I awoke in time […]