Fiction, Poetry, and Loose Change
Fort Canby was constructed during the Civil War. God knows why. By 1863, all the hostile Indians had been deported to Shitsville, Oklahoma and the looming threat of the Confederate Navy was confined to Mobile Bay and its environs. I was stationed there in 1941, a regular Army sergeant on my third and (I thought)…
Dick and Mike sit at the kitchen table playing two-handed rummy. Dick is drinking whiskey. Mike is drinking beer. He grunts every so often when he lays down his cards, but other than that they aren’t talking. The phone rings, making all of us jump. Margaret goes to the wall and picks up the receiver.…
It was Royger’s fourth attempt at The Knowledge. He knew he might come a cropper when he saw that his examiner was Stoneface Cavendish, the dean of London cabbies. “Streatham A-2 to Stour Road, if you please,” said Cavendish. Royger took a deep breath and fixed his eyes to a spot on the table. “I…
“Any word on the fate of 2-C?” Scroggs sipped his coffee, shrugged. “I imagine they’ll keep it sealed.” “Bloody hard time renting it after all that. Did you see the photos in the Sun?” “Oh yeah. Shocking. Papers will run anything now, long as it’s horrible.” “That it was.” She peered at the blue door…
There is a stone on Air Manis Beach in Sumatra, not far from where I was born. My mother made a practice of showing me this stone (which has more than a passing resemblance to a prostrate man) because it is attached to a legend of an ungrateful son who forgets his mother. “Malin Kundang…
John Dory made a song about it, how they come in iron ships, how they say they make the world free for us. How we heroes. He wrote it serious, which made it even funnier. Now they come and say we can go back to Enewetak, that it’s safe after all their experiments. They tell…
“Where can he be?” said Lakshmi. “He’s often late these days,” said Bhavana. “He told me people stop him on the street.” “I know, but never this long. Almost three hours. Look at the crowd.” She gestured to the throng of patients outside the door of the clinic. “We’ll never see them all today.” “I’ll…
The younger children squealed when Marisol brought out the cake. “It’s a lamb!” cried Anna. “It’s just shaped like one,” said Marisol, setting it on the table. “I used a mold. The eyes are gumdrops, and the fleece is made of coconut.” “What’s inside?” asked Luiz, the only boy at the party. “Guts?” Marisol smiled.…
They sat on the hard bench in the waiting room. The deputy had his feet up on his desk to show the visitors his bored indifference. Hosea glanced at John, erect and proper in a good blue suit and white shirt, clenched hands the only indication of his growing impatience. John rose and walked over…
Craig glanced sideways. As usual, his father was pacing alongside the pool as he swam, yelling what he probably thought was encouragement. As he dipped his head into the water his father’s words cut in and out like a flickering radio station. Craig Sr. had been an NCAA contender, but never quite a champion. He’d…