Good Times
Brandon Wells
“No, I never read that Brave New World book,” she said, stopping to take her daily Zoloft, Vicodin, Adderal, Aspirin, Xanax, Librium, Lortab, Lasix, Phentermine, and one of those emergency contraception pills because last night had been a little too fun, “is it any good?”
One Convenience Store Clerk’s Contribution to Cable TV Ratings
Kenton K. Yee
If he had known, he would have combed and shaved, for his wife and toddler son will see cable news replay the flickering black and white surveillance video once an hour, preceded by warnings about “disturbing images and language,” and blur his face right before the crack.
The Magician’s Wife
Renee Schell
She held the motel receipt out to her husband, saying “You forgot to make this disappear.”
Call It Beginner’s Luck
Amy Wright
The third bullet down in a constellation grouped beneath the bullʼs eye is my shot, which traveled four hundred yards from the barrel of a Remington 700, a military-grade sniper rifle, fell from the hammer after my friend Josh adjusted the scope, dug into the bank just beyond the target, sending up a puff of dust, tearing backward through my body when it kicked, sending out a jet of breath when it came clean off the barrel. “Wherever you are,” Kabir says, “is the entry point.”
Fair Warning
Mike Topp
Miniature ponies don’t make me angry so much as disappointed.
