Tex Gresham

Tex Gresham is the author of Violent Candy, Sunflower, and Heck, Texas. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, XRAY, Rejection Letters, and others. He lives in Los Angeles. www.squeakypig.com

GIFTS MY MOM GAVE ME by Tex Gresham

She was told to smile. She was always told to smile at the start of her shift. Cammie, give ‘em that smile. Not a suggestion, but mandatory. And she’d give it to ‘em. But tonight… The clients in here tonight crave holly jolly and so most say Smile, baby as they slip a tip in the thin hip strip of her thong. It’s the floor clients who say this mostly––the newcomers, the one-and-done-ers, the lonely men looking at her instead of looking at those waiting for them to get home this eve. The ones who walk in unnoticed. The ones…

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X-R-A-Y Specs: THE PLUMBER (1979)

I don’t think Max’s colonization of the bathroom is an accident. It’s a place where we feel vulnerable, and many times we attach a lock to the door to prevent others from walking in unannounced.

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X-R-A-Y SPECS: Toys (1992)

In fact, my experience watching Popeye is what this film most reminded me of: the feeling of alarm, then dismay, and then the slow death of acceptance. 

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X-R-A-Y SPECS: All-American Murder

All-American Murder isn’t bad, but it’s almost an extraterrestrial product, a movie made for humans by something that has no relationship to the physical universe.

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