Ghost Parachute

I caught you with God again, and the lilies I bought you wilted at the dawning, breaking. Noon, I think, with fresh-cut basil in the sink. Green food, green house, green bruises, green napkins — his obsession with green smarts me, mama, don’t you know? I don’t like catching you and him like that. That kiss […]

The creatures smelled failure quickly. Monday, Joel was laid off from the advertising job he had always regarded with slight contempt, a stop-gap meant to get him through the post-college years, one which had never blossomed into worthier opportunities. Tuesday, he kissed Carla good morning, her lovely cheek pillow-creased, leaving her with a tender lie […]

I came into the office and she was doing a Suzanne Sommers video. Air chopping step-ups, her flesh moving like a summer lake on a hot day. She said, “Wanna’ play?” but I pretended I’d misheard her, and jetted toward the kitchen. She followed me. “Hey, what’s the rush?” I heard behind me. I cracked […]

The car fishtailed, spun out of control, skidded into a ditch, flipped on its side, righted itself and came to a stop in a snow bank. It all happened too fast for Mr. M to think. He couldn’t move any muscle below his neck and his arms hung inside his parka sleeves like two dead […]

I was going to hang out with Jake today, but Mom insisted that I haul this lame basket of groceries to Grandma’s instead. Supposedly, some fresh air would do me good. Whatever. Jake said he could pick me up at Grandma’s afterward, so it wasn’t a total loss. I put on the red hoodie he […]

It’s dark. I’m driving, and you’re bickering with me again. Your mother lolls in the backseat. I’m not listening, only replying with non-committal responses when I hear a pause, when I hear permission. UhHuh. We’re driving through country roads. Your choice, not mine, though the reason for the drive no-one would choose. The rain is […]

I’d like to tell you about Vanessa, the rape victim who drew the unlucky straw that day. You could smell the chemicals from her recent perm, you could see where she’d dotted pink polish over the chips in her pedicure. She sat on the steel table in a pink paper gown, knees drawn up to […]

I’m waiting on my front stoop when my ex-wife rolls up in her beat up Buick and unloads her Great Dane from the back seat. She tugs Hamlet’s leash like she’s reeling in the world’s largest fish. I have to smile at the sight of Colleen, barely five foot two, with that horse of a […]

Tatiana asks me gently why I won’t go out, to the Count’s party. Rasputin may even be there and give us some entertainment, she says. And she loves entertainment, especially where that debauched peasant is involved. I love my older sister, but she thinks we can ignore the assassination. She wants to play pretend, as […]