“Pardon me,” he yelled to the rumbling train car. “May I have your attention?”
Oh god. Here we go. » Read the rest of this entry «
#232: Greene V. Black
October 21st, 2013 § permalink
“BORN ON THE PRAIRIES OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS; SELF EDUCATED, HE BECAME IN HIS PROFESSION THE FOREMOST SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATOR WRITER AND TEACHER OF HIS TIME” » Read the rest of this entry «
#231: The Lady in the Locker
October 18th, 2013 § permalink
I never found out if she was living in the storage space. » Read the rest of this entry «
#230: This One’s Dance
October 16th, 2013 § permalink
This one’s dance protected the food.
With a red uniform shirt, black knee-length shorts, black neckerchief and cat’s eye glasses perched on yellow, coiffed hair, she danced. » Read the rest of this entry «
#229: Dolly Parton Kicked My Ass
October 14th, 2013 § permalink
In back of the record store where people re-buy their youths through song, old technology and a disturbingly large collection of ’80s kids toys replicas, there is a door. » Read the rest of this entry «
#228: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
October 11th, 2013 § permalink
A lumpy older man with perfect network hair and a dirty yellow raincoat over a dirtier bike racing jersey wandered by. The bike jersey had a zipper down the front and a picture of Gumby. Gumby bulged.
I watched the man poke around the platform. I watched chatting old guys leaning against a newspaper recycling box and texting young ones lean against the stair railing. I watched the screaming cars’ headlights shoot down the highway, an endless daisy chain of light and stress in both directions.
And I watched as one by one, the expected times for the trains back home switched from numbers to the word “Delayed.” » Read the rest of this entry «
#227: Survival of the Fitness
October 9th, 2013 § permalink
In a row of bright pastel synthetic tank tops over black stretch pants, they fell forward on one knee.
They didn’t fall in unison, of course. Down the length of the city block on a ritz-nice strip of North Center, in 10- to 15-foot increments save a few who stood side by side as they chatted and toppled, the women rose and fell in their own Roman Empires each on a different schedule. » Read the rest of this entry «
#226: The Goose of Just Win
October 7th, 2013 § permalink
With light, deft fingers, the teenaged girl behind the mini-mart counter took the three-inch sheet of paper and folded it into a triangle.
She sat behind a rack of candy, blocked on the sides by bags of chips, miniature flashlights, novelty and other impulse tchochkes. Sitting there in the two-foot space between the counter and a wall of cigarettes, she folded her paper triangle again.
And again.
And again until it became a little paper castanet, a triangular clam shell with an open mouth to grip a space.
She then added it to the object. » Read the rest of this entry «
#225: “Where Do You Go When it Rains?”
October 4th, 2013 § permalink
She was a Muslim woman with a pure white head covering. She crouched by the side of Saks Fifth Avenue holding up fast food cup and a cardboard sign.
In weird, blocky writing with a Sharpie, the sign started with a “Salam Aleikam.” It said she lost her job and had three children. » Read the rest of this entry «
#224: George
October 2nd, 2013 § permalink
Good for you, George.
Good for you for chiming up to ask if I knew anything about the patent office. » Read the rest of this entry «
