The short fiction of j hardy carroll
You get used to living like this. Focus on the present, but keep one eye on the horizon. Mostly you need to be flexible. Like Mike Tyson said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. I was on my way to Las Cruces when the van started making noise. Just the…
“I don’t see why you insist on making such a huge deal about this.” “Because it is a huge deal, Lloyd. We lost power for a month. Half the trees in the city were knocked down and the rest look like they got chopped by a giant weed-wacker.” “It was a huge deal, but now it’s not. They’re…
She sets the steaming mug before me. “Soon set you to rights,” she says. “You’ll see.” My hands are shaking so badly I don’t trust them to lift the tea to my lips. Instead, I bend to sip, pursing my lips against the heat. “There’s a good girl,” she says. “Get some nice tea in…
The man pushed the piece of notebook paper across the desk. “Can she be built?” I studied it. A kid’s pencil drawing of a circle bisected by a rectangle. “You are best architect in Montreal, yes?” he said, his accent thick. I gave my most gallic shrug. “Perhaps.” “And yet you have no French?” “My…
The judge was an old family friend or this probably would have happened sooner. “I’m sorry, Stewart,” he said over the phone. “My hands are tied. Six months is the minimum I can give you. Have somebody drive you to the courthouse at 9AM tomorrow and you can remand yourself.” One last fling, I told…