Shortly after eleven Cary walked in and planted himself in the back corner of the small room, a third full and hot.  Women fanned themselves while bald men’s pates glistened and others made repeated trips to the back deck, through the rows of vintage resale racks, to cool off. The elevated train brushed against the deck and echoed through the warren of moth-ridden fashion and sagging high-concept fixtures.  By the breezeless windows, three black men fiddled with their instruments—one in his…

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Raphael sat at the kitchen table, peering at the coarse ochre clay mug before him.  Jenny had left some twenty minutes ago to drop Juanito off at kindergarten and run errands before meeting Raphael at the university.  It was Tuesday and they both taught classes on Tuesday, while Raphael had administrative paperwork to attend to as well.  He’d been made head of the Spanish department seven months ago, and though the extra money really helped, Raphael loathed filling out the endless reams of… Continue

Miriam and Peter had moved into the Golden Sunset retirement community a year ago.  Urged by their children and their spouses, Miriam had sold the house she’d lived in for nearly forty years and was then whisked away to the apartment containing a small living room and one-third a kitchen that served as the two bedrooms’ discreet hub.  Upon moving in Miriam was told it was better  — no, safer was what they’d said, the onsite staff had — that she and Peter sleep separately because he might… Continue

I wake up to a head that’s had too much sleep and body not enough. Sunlight slips through the closed binds, but I can tell it’s overcast outside.  The late-morning’s haze seeps through the cracked plaster, and as I lean against the wall with my eyes shut, I allow myself to sink into its melancholy blanket.  Then there’s a crack of thunder and it starts to rain.  I sigh,… Continue