Tag: Locked

Toby has been obsessed with squid since we were seven. Said he liked the way ‘cephalopod’ felt in his mouth. I liked the way it squelched through his gap teeth and fell off his lips with a lisping splash. Birds of the sea, he said. I tried to tell him about penguins, but even then…

In the wildfire-ravaged summer, everything disappears behind a haze of smoke: first the sun, then the mountains on the horizon, and then the women. They leave at night or at high noon, following the smell of smoke and the currents in their own blood. Something unnameable carries them toward the hills. In absentia, the missing…

Benny came to the city and he’s looking for work. He’s got good strong legs and a straight back and he walks the streets tirelessly, stopping in for every Help Wanted sign. He hobbles over cobbles and clops down the sidewalk and he comes home to his dog, tired, dog-tired, oh so tired ‘cause his…

A woman stands at what she thought was her motel door and doesn’t recognize the number. At first, she brushes away the first tingle, light as a strand of spiderweb falling on her nape. All these motels look alike, she tells herself. They’re all cast from the same mold. She should know–they’ve switched between so…