On Sundays, I help my son time travel. I place him in a cardboard box, a contraption of recycled parts. Aluminum foil antennas stick out from the top and the words “Time Travel Machine” drip down the side in runny red paint that accidentally stained the carpet. My son, Vincent, is a chubby-cheeked rascal, too […]
The first time I met Suzanne Vincent was, quite appropriately, at a library. I’d met with enough online friends and literary heroes to know that people aren’t always the same “IRL” as they present themselves online. So as I sat in that library cafe, nervously sipping my coffee and watching out the window for anyone […]
The Christmas card arrived late. It cost 599 rubles and played “Holly Jolly Christmas“ for thirteen seconds, until the “this yeeear” bit. Merry CHRISTmas Jae Pastor Ivanov says “Jesus is the Reason, for the Season!!” Your Father and I pray together every day Come home soon She meant well, but none of it rang true […]
I’m standing in the school bathroom, peeling off a ghost, when the new girl walks in. She’s a mess, all running snot and smeared mascara, and I’ve got my hands full of wet, writhing pain. My other ghosts, each a discarded moment of loss or fear or heartbreak, press closer. All of them watching with […]
I’m in Hell. That must be what this is. I can’t fathom a god who would possibly interpret this as heaven, crammed in this damned steamer trunk; me and twenty three other Wayang Kulit shadow puppets, entombed with the smell of ox hide and musty bamboo. I dream of a life before this one. A […]