In April, he rang my doorbell, and by June, he had disappeared. But I didn’t know that then, as I sat in my apartment during a worthless...

“Will someone come for me?” I ask out loud. The only one to hear is a Blackbird I’ve named Stanley Stub. Stanley has one good leg, the...

The audience, crammed shoulder to shoulder in tight, neat, curved rows, stared upwards, mouths agape like stunned goldfish, semi-chewed...

The Bible Class our parents forced us to attend every Sunday morning was so mind-numbingly boring that Trinity and I spent our time there...

When I wake, the baby is gone. My hand rests on my flattened, soft belly, empty except for some gas. Maybe it’s left over from the dream...

It was almost a joke when you asked me. I’d been splashing water on my face in the bathroom off the grand ballroom’s hallway, inching up...

Elaine knew that her keys were trying to tell her something when she dropped them on the floor in front of her bed. They landed in such a...

The metal door slams behind me, shutting out the last bit of the day’s light, leaving the fluorescent bulb to its dreary work. My shoes...

A freshly cut rose stood between the smiling couple, droplets of water clinging to its rigid stem. They reached across the corner table...

They stand below the rim in a group and reach their fingertips to bump the ball toward the rim or away from it, toward another rim....

I was told that I could no longer come into the office, but I still had to work. So my apartment became my office. And because the two...

Deep into the summer in year two of the pandemic, New York City’s piquant vibe of menace had curdled into a dank atmosphere of dread. ...

Cosimo was looking distractingly handsome. We were celebrating his 75th birthday that day, at the Party Palazzo, and I know he likes that...

Alan stepped out of the Land Rover and peered down the long driveway. After jackhammering over three hundred miles of washboard roads, he...

Yesterday sadness hit me in the condiment aisle, my cart still empty save the unseasonal raspberries I will forget in the fridge, watch...

The nurse will hear her say something biting and reassure me that it’s the dementia. It makes them say things they don’t mean. But I’ll...

I’m embarrassed to be seen with him. He is shorter than me by at least six inches and has a lot of hair that sticks straight up on his...

It was completely wrong to be riding in the front seat next to Raúl. It was inappropriate. Perhaps improper was a better term due to...

I suppose you think it’s funny, that my friends call me Madman, or you think I’m going to be funny, or do crazy things, or belong on...

Sometimes, I wonder which stories are really mine to tell. Take, for instance, the night Raul thought the devil had climbed inside his...