Joseph Pfister

Joseph Pfister’s fiction has appeared in PANK, New World Writing, Juked, Gone Lawn, and decomP, among others. He is a graduate of the MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence College and currently teaches writing at Brooklyn Brainery. Visit him at josephspfister.com.

THE GATED COMMUNITY by Joseph Pfister

We received the brochure in the mail. It was printed on that thick paper, the fancy kind, with raised lettering. ESCAPE TO FLORIDA! it read. YOUR OWN PRIVATE PARADISE AWAITS! Everyone in our subdivision got one, but that didn’t matter. It was February, the ground brittle with snow. We were ready for a change. Overnight, developers transformed miles of Florida swamp into a mecca for the recently retired. Walk out your back door onto replicas of Sawgrass, Augusta, Pebble Beach! Work up a sweat on our racquetball courts! Cool off with water aerobics! Jazzercise! Sure, the amenities sounded nice. For…

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