Ghost Parachute

One frigid Sunday morning in November, Freddie finds two Marcias standing in the kitchen. They’re identical except for the patterns of their fuzzy flannel pajamas. Marcia complained once about one of those sets of pajamas. The flannel has become thin and pilled, she said. It used to be so much softer, she said. He can’t […]

In Kansas, we kill a hundred butterflies. We know it’s a hundred because our daughter counts the stains on the windshield, yellow wings turned to yellow sludge. “It’s a migration,” my wife points out. “Happens every year.” After seventy-seven, we pull to the sunflower-lined berm, watch the butterflies pass. Other travelers whiz by, decimation en […]

The static of conversation, the neighbor-noise she’d ignored all day, shifted, took on a new rhythm. Sharp, staccato. Carlotta looked up from her book, peered over the deck railing through the woods. A sudden alarm shot through her. “Now,” the husband barked. Then a clattering of dishes. The sun slipped behind the hill on the […]

Justine had way too many scarves. They hung on hooks inside and outside the front closet. They draped the backs of chairs. The black wool scarf knitted by her almost-mother-in-law. It was dense and lovely, but itchy. The batik silk scarf she bought from a street vendor in San Francisco before the engagement that death […]

There is a person running a marathon who collapses in the street. And there is a person who’s the target of a professional hitman. And what you need to know is that this is the same person. Long before an ambulance arranges itself beside the runner, a news van encircles the perimeter. A couple decodes […]

Mary asked Eve to show her magic. On Tuesday, Eve spent the day avoiding her. Avoiding the way Mary hooked her ankle around her boyfriend’s during lunch. Avoiding the glint of Mary’s cross necklace under florescent lights. Avoiding the way Mary’s eyes chased hers through the halls. On Wednesday, Mary didn’t ask again. On Thursday, […]