LIBERTY KID by Lanny Durbin
I saw the kid's face when he got hit by the car. He was standing there on the sidewalk with a blank look and then the car jumped the curb. Just nailed him. The blank look stayed on his face when he flew through air, stared right at me. Like he meant to do it. A party trick.
He was wearing a statue of liberty costume, which, for a short moment, made the visual a little funny. He stood out in front of the Liberty Tax building a few nights a week, one of those preying fast tax return spots in the same lot as the grocery store I work in. He stole a pack of smokes out of my car one night I'm pretty sure, but he was just a kid, seventeen at max. I wished it was the regular guy standing there that day, the day shift statue. That guy danced and waved at the passing cars like he really cared. Either he would have seen the car coming and been vigilant enough to dodge it or he would've been the one to get creamed. Both seemed like better outcomes. The kid was just there for a couple extra bucks—he wore the foam green hat and matching frock with no pride and stared at his cell phone. Lady Liberty's lost disappointment of a son. The hat caught the wind and drifted away when he careened over the hood of the Nissan. It looked like he was doing a killer move on an invisible skateboard.
The EMTs showed up, cops showed up, blinking lights and stoic professionalism. They set out orange cones, scraped the kid up off the asphalt. I watched them work quickly. I stocked shelves most of the day. I opened the store and counted the till. I dealt with the customers, took the trash out, locked up the store at 9 PM. I watched the EMTs take the kid away and thought that I could probably do that. A little training and I’d be alright, but then someone would need to be here to receive the produce delivery, so I’ll leave the rescue work to guys with nothing else to do.
The officer was terse when taking my statement, like, this dipshit in his work uniform better give me a straight answer. I thought, hey man, we both wear uniforms. Yours is dark blue, mine's orange and white creamsicle. We both have our names on our shirt pockets, but hey, mine's only safety pinned—they stitched yours right into the fabric. Officer Ottman. You’re locked into the force, like a blood oath. I could take my name tag off right now and disappear to a new life. I can stock shelves anywhere. A valuable skill set.
Maybe I don't know how to hold a pistol or book a perp at the station but I do know when the frozen goods delivery is coming, what'll be on it, where to stock it. You don't have to deal with Ms. Henderson when I tell her the Amy's Chile Relleno meal was out of stock, she'll have to wait until Friday. Your stern bullying wouldn't work on her—she requires a more delicate approach. I'd like to see you be the shift supervisor in this goddamn place. I'd love to see it.
They towed the woman’s Nissan away while she gave her statement. She was crying, inconsolable. Was on her cell phone and bam, jumped the curb. She probably killed a teenager but she did get to read that Facebook notification. I recognized her from the store. She came in to buy slivered almonds, which reminded me that the bulk order was due in by noon and all this police business was holding me up.
The next morning, the regular Statue of Liberty guy was out on the curb, inches from where the kid was nailed. The guy danced and waved like a real dipshit. I went out and asked him if he’d heard about the kid.
“Yeah,” he said. “Heard he broke his legs and ruptured his spleen or something.”
“So he’ll live, huh?”
“Sounds like it.”
“Can’t you live about the same without your spleen?” I asked. “I think I read somewhere your liver just takes over for it.”
“Heck if I know,” dancing statue said with a big dopey grin. “Hey, I’ve got to cover his shifts until he gets back, so hopefully one can live without a spleen. I should get back to work now.”
I walked back inside to the office in the backroom and googled spleens. I thought about the kid without a spleen. I read that you sure can live just about the same without one; you could just become more susceptible to infection. I thought, hey, that’s not so bad, considering. Plus, working in the vitamin section here at the store, I’ve picked up a few things about nutrition. The kid would want to cut back on dairy fats, for starters. I decided that, if I saw him again, I’d offer the kid a job on the spot, here at the grocery store. Your life was rarely on the line in here, Nissans rarely careened into you in here.
I knew that Officer Ottman wasn’t going to help the kid get back on his feet. Offer the kid a badge? Yeah right. He didn’t really know anything about protecting and serving his community. I’d love to see Officer Ottman try to run this store. I’d love it.
EVERYTHING GOOD I REMEMBER ABOUT MY REAL DAD by Marisha Gene Hicks
He called his old white SUV the White Elephant. We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in rounds. We had a secret handshake. We celebrated unbirthdays. He made us unbirthday cakes. He taught me how to make cream cheese frosting. He taught me how to ride a bike in the park. He said I looked like a doll when I was born. He bought me a mountain bike. He let my sister and I rent Mannequin and Puff the Magic Dragon every time. When I was older he let me rent Repo Man. He had a three-legged dog named Lucky or maybe it was one-eyed. He was a triathlete and maybe he still is. I think he competed in IRONMAN one year. He once took us to George Strait’s house when he was doing construction on it. He showed me how to use a drill. He bought me Lemon-Lime Gatorade every time he stopped for Coors tallboys. He took us to eat menudo. He bought us Sprites at the bar. He let me sip his beer. He let me take the wheel. He made a really good venison stew once. He bought us personalized clothing and jewelry and accessories. He bought us binoculars and monoculars and cool glow-in-the-dark astronomy books. He carried a beeper. I think that’s it.
LONGBEARDS by Chris Dankland
Before The Smiths signed the contract for the brand new house they were set to purchase, the real estate broker said: I have to tell you that in the last few weeks a few of the construction workers have sighted some Longbeards near the woods. I'm only mentioning it because you said you have a small dog.
Yes, said Mr. Smith. Thank you. We'll be sure to keep him inside the house at night.
That's what I'd do, said the real estate broker, nodding. Just in case. I'm sure that as more and more people move into the neighborhood, the the Longbeards will retreat further into the woods. Longbeards like to be left alone. Maybe you'll hear them howling late at night.
Gregory! said Mrs. Smith, playfully poking their seven year old in his chubby belly. Are you excited about hearing some Longbeards howling? Sounds like fun, huh?
Gregory nodded ecstatically, lifted his head and cried: A-WOOOOOOOOOO!
Laughter filled the office like the bubbles in their glasses of champagne.
///
The first time the family heard the Longbeards was two weeks after they moved in. A sound like seven singing trumpets broke the seal of night. It was 3am. Mr. and Mrs. Smith sat up in bed at the same moment.
Longbeards! said Mrs. Smith in a hushed gasp, touching her lips.
There's a lot of them, said Mr. Smith. He headed toward the window.
Gregory appeared at their bedroom door. Mommy! he shouted. On stubby chubby legs he ran in and dived into their bed.
It's okay baby, said Mrs. Smith, cradling her son to her stomach. It's just Longbeards.
Everything's fine. Listen! Do you hear them howling? Gregory moaned and pushed his face deep into his mother's side.
Sparky ran into the bedroom and hid beneath the bed.
They sound sort of spooky, don't they? said Mrs. Smith. The Longbeards' howls were a combination of tornado sirens, rat screams, and alligator snarls. Woe to the usurping inhabitors of the earth, they howled. Woe to those who wear the crown of pride. Woe to those who scatter and destroy the sheep of the pasture. Woe to the wicked gluttons. Woe to you all on the day of our furious wrath.
Mr. Smith nodded. They do sound strange, he said. A wave of unease rolled through the room. But they're much more frightened of us than we are of them, he added.
///
The Smiths were one of the first families to move into the new neighborhood. All day the surrounding streets were filled with the sound of hammers and buzzsaws and the chatter of Latin American construction crews. But at night, after the construction crews had gone, the neighborhood was as still and silent as a stone dropped in the ocean.
Mr. Smith was proud of the new house that he'd bought for his family. It had not been acquired easily. It had cost tens of thousands of hours of toil at the law firm where he worked. His legal specialty was handling peanut allergy lawsuits. Mr. Smith worked for a candy company that made a small chocolate covered confection called Bloopers. The candies were sold in nearly every movie theater in the country.
But, six or seven times a year, some unfortunate soul with a deadly peanut allergy would purchase these candies, consume them in the dark theater seats, and go into immediate anaphylactic shock. Due to the contents of the candies, which contained a particularly potent peanut butter cream center, these allergic reactions were sudden and almost always fatal. Men, women, and children alike would swell up and suffocate in a matter of minutes, choking in their seats even before the previews were over. This created terrible litigation problems for the company. It was Mr. Smith's job to ensure that lawsuits from grieving families had a minimal impact on company profits.
But they are gone! the families whined. The ones we loved are dead forever! And now we are alone.
It's the unfortunate nature of the universe, answered Mr. Smith. The universe gives and the universe takes away.
You are responsible! the families cried.
We are not responsible, answered Mr. Smith.
You are the cause of all our misery! You have destroyed our happy home! the families cried.
It wasn't on purpose. We all just want nice houses, answered Mr. Smith.
///
The house is on fire! screamed Mrs. Smith. It was ten o'clock at night.
What? asked Mr. Smith. He was in the living room, watching cable news.
THE HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET IS ON FIRE! screamed Mrs. Smith.
They ran to the backyard and poked their head over the fence. The fucking house is on fire! shouted Mr. Smith. Luckily it was an unoccupied house far away from them, in another part of the neighborhood that was still being built. Bright orange flames swirled through the house's walls and windows like solar flares on a distant star. A giant black river of smoke snaked up from the burning roof.
Longbeards! shouted Mrs. Smith.
Fifteen or twenty Longbeards surrounded the house, jumping up and down on their heavy hindlegs. They were screaming. With giant clawed paws they beat their furry chests and kicked dust into the air. Their gaping mouths were wet with slobber, silver in the moonlight. Their huge eyes glowed like yellow light bulbs. Thick mossy beards hung from their jaws all down their bodies, tangled hair tossing through the air while they danced and howled, blurring the air. They shook their fists above them as if to rip open and tear down the sky.
I'm getting the machine gun! said Mr. Smith, rushing inside. Call the cops!
A minute later Mr. Smith had his machine gun in hand, pointing it over the top of the fence. He pulled the trigger and sprayed wild bullets at the Longbeards. The Longbeards darted in twenty different directions. In less than fifteen seconds they had completely disappeared into the night.
///
Mr. Smith didn't sleep that night, but his family did. Mrs. Smith dreamed that a Longbeard arm was growing out of her mouth. At first the arm was limp and dead, but then it started moving. Little Gregory dreamed that there were thousands of lollipops in his veins. Suddenly a hundred gaping slobbery mouths appeared all around him, sucking at the air. Little Gregory rose up into the air and was pulled apart by the suction. Sparky dreamed that he was trying to run away on broken legs.
After the fire department put out the fire, after the cops came by the house and wrote down his report, Mr. Smith stayed up in the living room with the machine gun resting on the loveseat. His wife had wanted a house with lots of big windows. She loved sunlight. Mr. Smith drank coffee and sat in the living room till dawn. He watched. He listened. He waited. He worried.
///
In the deep dark woods, The Longbeards huddled in their cave. The Longbeards waited too. They lay awake, stretched longwise against the wet March soil, full of freshly sprouted spring buds not yet emerged but slowly clawing out. One by one by one the humans would all be turned to whispers, mere coils in the wind. Evaporated. Dissipated. Forgotten. Tear their poison roots from the ground and purify the dirt that life might rise anew. Better to blast the trumpet and drown the deafened world with silence than to let it mumble endlessly its parched and wicked sickbed hallucinations.
Furious breaths filled The Longbeards black twitching noses. Kill them all and eat the children.
TUNA SANDWICH by Jennifer Greidus
He orders tuna salad because he always orders tuna salad. Today, he also orders bacon potato soup. It’s too hot for soup. He likes to wipe his pretty mouth with the back of a hand. He sneers at the waitresses and only pays attention to the ones with fat tits. One of them, Trina, is my favorite waitress. Her tits are fat. I want to tell her to cover them up. Her skirt is tight, too, and the material that’s supposed to hide the zipper is pulled too far to do its job. He’s not an ass man, though.
My mother’s tits are like that, fallen and fat. Jiggly. To the trucker sitting next to him, Tuna Sandwich whispers, “ A loose handful’s where it’s at, am I right?”
I know my mother’s a whore. But lots of the mothers that Tuna Sandwich fucked weren’t whores. Trina’s a mom, and she’s never whored. Her skin is too pale and clear to be that of a cocksucker. Plus, Trina lets me sit in her booth without ordering anything but seltzer for seven nights straight during the dinner rush. She’s kind. I bet she knits and watches TV until exactly ten p.m. Trina lets me sit here with seltzer and saltines just so I can stare at this fuck who pumped cum in my mother and sliced her cunt when he was done.
I still popped out of her, though. Nine months later. My mother likes to tell me that it’s almost a blessing, her sliced cunt, because she had a wider hole to push me out of.
I have been useless to her until now. She loves me, yeah. She always saves me the last piece of donut. But I was in tow wherever she went: welfare office, subsidized child care drop-off, the casino parking lots at two a.m., Hank’s to buy weed and share rum that I was occasionally allowed to sip if I was quiet. I was always quiet.
I was also always useless. For sixteen years, she used the room next to mine to blow guys for ten dollars because she was too scarred up to fuck. If I were a good son, I would have gotten a job. I just stayed in bed and hoped she was focused enough to make them ejaculate quickly so I could sleep.
When she saw him--Tuna Sandwich--she peeped. My mother never does anything quieter than guffaw. It’s the only way I knew; she peeped, turned me around by the shoulders, and we left the convenience store without papers, Fritos, or grape Gatorade.
Now, I spit a thick gob onto my fingertips, walk behind Tuna Sandwich, and fling it into his greasy hair. Trina sees me and lifts an eyebrow. She smiles, then, because Tuna Sandwich calls her Trina Tits-a-lot. He has tucked money into the shirt pocket of her uniform while copping a feel more than once. Until now, her only revenge was wiping her pussy juice on his tuna sandwich white bread.
For me, Trina lifted his keys. Trina told me she serves him his last cup of coffee at 10 p.m. and that my six green pills will be crushed in it. Trina told me he's small but strong.
She joins me in the men’s room, drops his motel key in my hand, and slaps my ass. “You look so fuckin’ good tonight. I’m not going to see you in here tomorrow, am I?”
“No.”
“Do good work.” She kisses my cheek, straightens her skirt, and leaves me be.
------------
Tuna Sandwich wakes up on a creeper. When I said, “Do you sell those dolly things? You know, the ones that go under cars?” the auto parts guy sneered at me. I’m sixteen, for one, and I’m frail, for two. Also, I lisp a little. He asked me if I needed help getting it into my van, and it sucked, because I did.
If I woke up on a creeper in my motel room, it would take me a minute or two to panic. I’d be almost curious when I came to. I might take some time to assess. It wouldn’t make any sense to a good person.
It doesn’t take Tuna Sandwich but twelve seconds to panic, though, because I know the fuck knows he’s led the kind of life where waking up cocooned to a creeper with rope and bungee cords and duct tape over your mouth is the kind of thing he’s been waiting to come around the corner since puberty.
He shakes his head like a dog after a swim. He groans through the tape. I smile from the bed. I was watching Fixture, the one where Kimmy does the bull run in Barcelona. I turn up the TV, super loud. I go to him. I hover.
He’s using his feet and lower legs to push himself away from me. He bumps his head into the wall and squeezes his eyes closed. His nostrils are blown to the size of dimes. His eyes burn: what, what, what.
He knows what. It’s a hundred whats.
It’s me taking off his shoes and socks and jamming my mom’s metal emery board under his big toenail what. It’s me dragging his faggot ass over to the writing table so I can steady myself on the chair, stand on his chest, and stomp up and down on him until I’m sure I’ve broken ribs what. It’s me moving to his balls and cracking down with my heel. It’s me plunging the emery board into his right eyeball.
Best of all, it’s me struggling to cut through the cartilage of his throat with my Swiss Army knife, because I am sixteen, frail, and lispy. A hundred whats let me take my time, and his left eyeball screams at me the whole time I do.
I’m going to sit here. I’m going to sit here and see what kind of piece of shit person shows up looking for this cocksucker because they missed him. No one will miss him. No one. I’ll be sitting here for days, sucking in his stench until I’m bored and go to Atlantic City.
CHARLIE by Blake Middleton
i took some adderall the other day
and for some reason i decided it was time to replace my old washing machine with a new washing machine
my roommate got a lighter stuck in the part of the washer where all the lent and other bullshit builds up
so we were scared that the washing machine was gonna catch fire or explode
i had been putting off changing it out for weeks
i didn’t know how to change out a washing machine and hadn’t really felt like learning
i kinda hoped my roommate would do it eventually
but whatever, i was bored and on adderall, optimal conditions for doing a dumb chore you’ve been putting off forever
i hadn’t taken adderall in months
and there were reasons for this, of course
but it had been a few months, it was early, i wasn’t gonna mix them with alcohol or anything, haha, just wanted some help focusing
felt like i didn’t need a youtube tutorial, no no, none of that bullshit
just needed some fucking drugs, kids
i stared at the washing machine, trying to use my brain to think
i did some thinking and unscrewed the hose on the back of the washer a little bit
but some water shot out from around the sides
so the first step would be to turn off the water
and hey hey
goddamn
the adderall was working
it had increased my critical thinking/problem solving skills immensely
i tried to turn the faucet, but the handle was rusted and broken
i tried to use a wrench to turn the handle, but no, still wasn’t working
i thought, fuck it
removing the hose was gonna be the first step again
the adderall in my dumb-ass brain was telling me that would work, like totally, fuck yeah
the adderall was telling me that, despite the recent revelation that the handle was completely broken and fucked, i had the mental capacity and psychical strength required to unscrew the hose from the back of the old washer then, while water was spewing out from the hose, screw it into the new washer
actually no, without really thinking about what i was doing, i unscrewed the hose
and as soon as i unscrewed the hose i realized that unscrewing the hose while the water was still running was a stupid and bad thing to do
because water was shooting out everywhere
getting all my shit wet
the floor wet. the counters wet. my pants wet.
like imagine all my shit getting really fucking wet
imagine a hose spewing water full blast on a bunch of shit that shouldn’t get wet
it was bad
i tried to screw it back into the old washer
i thought, fuck it
just wanted to screw the hose back into the old washer, keep using that one until it caught fire or exploded and killed me or whatever
just wanted to read a book or lie in bed and stare at the ceiling or something
but no
wasn’t gonna work for me
mentally added ‘changing out a washing machine’ to a long list of shit that just wasn’t gonna work for me
no i didn’t do that
but in hindsight, yeah, add it to the list
it was too late to quit though
this wasn’t a time for literature or bad feelings in bed
this was a time for stopping a hose from flooding my house
really didn’t wanna have to call my slumlord and get yelled at
plus my roommates had been getting drunk a lot and spray-painting the walls
so i would get double yelled at
then my dumb-ass brain did some more thinking stuff
and oh man
i realized who i needed
i needed my boy charlie
charlie was my alcoholic neighbor
there was a good chance that he would be home because he doesn’t have a job
he spends most of his time drinking busch on his porch with his shithead buddies (also unemployed alcoholics)
he has a friend named ‘ice man’ that sells meth out of his ford bronco
‘ice man’ also does lawn service
‘ice man’ and charlie have a friend named ‘creepy chris’
‘creepy chris’ lives in charlie’s garage
he also smokes crack-cocaine and has sex with prostitutes in there too
charlie's garage: a versatile space perfect for a variety of stimulating activities such as crack smoking and illicit sex
‘creepy chris’ helps ‘ice man’ sell meth and cut grass
sometimes creepy chris smokes too much crack and walks around the park across the street very late at night
creeping around
there goes chris again, smoking crack and creeping around in the night, there he goes
just some normal jacksonville florida bullshit my guy
but yeah, yes, charlie was my only hope
i put the hose inside the washing machine and it started filling with water
i jumped over the washing machine and sprinted out my front door, drenched in water, looking like a fucking dumb-ass
and yeah, yes
charlie was sitting alone on his porch drinking a busch
he was wearing cut-off jean shorts
and i could see his balls
dangling out, resting gently on the stoop
i got a little distracted for a minute by charlies big tan balls, you know?
shit was wet my guy
it was 11 am
charlie had been drinking, but he wasn’t drunk
which was great because charlie isn’t very helpful when he’s drunk
like one time i went over to charlie’s place to borrow a drill
i knocked on the door
and i could see charlie through the screen door
he was sitting on the couch, empty mcdonald’s wrappers on the ottoman in front of him
looking old and leathery as ever
but he wouldn’t move, he just sat there smiling, staring right at me
‘charie,’ i yelled. ‘what the fuck?’
then jane, charlie’s wife, nice old jane, came to the door, opened it
and before she could say anything to me, charlie yelled, ‘how many boyfriends you got, jane?’
so i was thinking, okay, charlie’s drunk and on pain pills again
suprise suprise
because charlie, in addition to being my drunk neighbor, is also my drunk maintenance man
and a few weeks ago he was doing some work on my roof, few too many beers deep, fell off and slipped a disk in his back
so for the past few weeks he’s been on the pain pills
calls them ‘happy pills’
usually in the context of ‘hey blake do you wanna buy some happy pills?’
so i asked jane if i could borrow a drill
jane said, ‘it’s blake. wants to know if he can borrow a drill. do you know where the drills at, charlie?’
‘bet you could find it if it was up your ass,’ he yelled
nice old jane said, ‘well, it’s not up my ass, mr. charlie’
and i said, ‘okay, i’ll come back later’
but it was early this time and he wasn’t drunk yet
i said, ‘charlie, i need you. i’ve got a fucking emergency’
i felt a little strange saying ‘i need you’ to a weird old man while staring at his balls
he stood up and his balls retracted
i said ‘follow me’ and ran to my house
he walked real slow behind me
well we got inside and Charlie assessed the situation
he stared at the washing machine overflowing onto my floor
he looked at me and shook his head and laughed like ‘haha what the fuck did you do, kid?’
then he took the hose and put it in a drain thingy behind the washer then walked outside and turned the water off by lifting up a concrete thingy in my front yard
seemed incredibly easy
made me feel like, what the fuck have i been doing on the world for 23 years. how do i not know how to do basic bullshit yet?
charlie said we were gonna need to go buy a new faucet because the current one was broken and fucked
i suggested that we go to the lowes down the street
*
we walked around lowes together
me and charlie
the two best friends
charlie would pick up a spout and mumble, ‘should have gone to the fucking home depot’
i had always thought that lowes and home depot were the exact same store but now i know that they are not
i was learning things
learning things to remember in the future
always preparing for some empty bullshit
shit breaks and you fix it
just more and more tiny breaks to fix until that last sweet unrepairable breaking
a breaking so broke you gotta bury it
wet wet wet
but yeah fuck lowes i guess
*
on the drive home from lowes we approached a liquor store
i had gotten pretty used to paying charlie in liquor
he had been mowing my lawn with ice man and chris every week in exchange for a 750 of canadian club whiskey
fucking champions these guys
so i figured i’d stop in the liquor stop and buy him a handle
so i did
and we got back to my place and charlie fixed my washer
no problem
just fixed her right up
he took a deep breath and looked at me
‘you want a mixed cocktail?’ he said
really felt like i owed him one
like if charlie wanted me to drink a cocktail with him, then i would do that, yeah
i said okay, and we walked over to charlie’s place
there was nascar shit everywhere
mostly dale earnhardt memorabilia
hell yeah
charlie walked to the kitchen and picked up two 32 ounce styrofoam cups
like those big motherfuckers you get at gas stations
he grabbed the handle of canadian club and a 2 liter of coke, handed them to me
‘mix yourself a drink’ he said, smiling like a big time motherfucker
so i poured a 2 oz shot into the cup
a normal amount
and he said ‘c’mon pour a little more’
so i poured another 2 ounces
okay, seemed fine, whatever
and again he said, ‘c’mon brother, pour a little more’
hmm not great, no no
but i poured another 2 ounces
mixed it with coke
we sat on the couch together, watching the local news
just two normal guys watching the local news alone on a couch, drinking giant-ass cocktails
a white lady was talking about a murder at a gas station in westside jacksonville
charlie yelled something at the TV
i thought, ‘okay all i have to do is finish this drink and then i can leave, cool’
so i started drinking faster
and by the time i finished the drink about five minutes later, i felt like watching the local news with charlie was a fun and normal thing to do
and i remembered that i took an adderall earlier
and that when i’m on adderall i feel like i can drink a lot more than i actually can
so i realized i drank too much too quick
surprise surprise
so i walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer
because i was already there
i was feeling good
i was feeling that invincible feeling again
felt like i was the fucking king of beer, god of the mini-fridge, the busch-light punisher
and as soon as i popped the top ice man and creepy chris pulled up in the bronco, honked the horn a few times
and it sounded like ‘daa-daa-da-da-da-da-daaaa-daaaa-da-da’
and i was drunk enough to think ‘fuck yeah, cool, all of this this is normal and good’
and the bronco had bull horns on the front and i’m not kidding, it had ‘ice man’ stenciled on the hood
creepy chris stepped out of the passenger side, looking like a praying mantis on crack
and he was holding a styrofoam box over his head with his mantis arms
he started chanting ‘chicken wings chicken wings chicken wings’
and charlie's lazy ass didn't hop up off the couch when i told him i had a fucking emergency but he sure did hop up for chicken wings
i followed him outside
‘shut the fuck up, chris’ charlie said. ‘what you got in there?’
‘chicken wings’
‘give em here’
he handed charlie the box
charlie opened the box and said ‘hey buddy’ to the chicken wings, smiling
‘hey charlie man,’ said chris. ‘i, uh, got them things for weed-eating a lawn’
‘who's garage you live at, uh? do you live at charlie's garage? is that your mattress in my garage, uh?’
‘Yeah, but--’
charlie slurped down a chicken wing
wet
he stood and chugged a beer, walked out back to the garage
we all followed charlie for some reason
and also, for some reason, there was a tire nailed above the garage
just kind of dangling there in the breeze like charlie’s balls
couldn’t seem to stop thinking about charlie’s balls
charlie grabbed two 30 pound dumbbells out of the garage
‘lifts some weights, chicken wing’ he said to chris
and instead of telling charlie to ‘fuck off’ he just lifted the weights
he counted his reps and charlie ate his chicken wings
and ice man smiled at me and pulled out a one hitter
and i took a hit of ice man’s weed
and thank god it was only weed
and yes my guy
i was drunk and stoned and on adderall
it was one of those day where you’d usually think ‘huh, didn’t think i’d be doing this today’
only right then i wasn’t thinking that
i wasn’t thinking anything
that’s what made it so good
ZERO PINEAPPLES by Timothy Willis Sanders
Billy asked Chris and Molly what movie they had picked and Chris held up a DVD copy of The Birds.
Billy shot a look at Meg.
“Hitchcock had a really fucked up obsession with Tippi Hedren. I read about it online so I decided to never watch the movie,” said Billy.
“Who’s Tippi Hedren?” said Chris, sliding the DVD into the Playstation.
“Exactly,” said Meg.
“Well, sorry about Tippi, but I have a surprise for you both after the movie,” said Molly.
Billy pictured Molly wheeling out a human-sized box with a large gold ribbon, from which Gene Wilder, dressed as Willy Wonka, flipped out of and tipped his hat.
“It’s pineapple upside-down cake,” Meg whispered to Billy.
“You think so?” said Billy.
“Yeah, I saw it in the kitchen. Don’t eat too much,” said Meg.
2
Billy fell asleep 30 minutes into The Birds. He woke up to Tippi Hedren’s catatonic and bandaged face staring back at him. He announced to the others he still understood what was going on.
“Thanks for the update, babe,” said Meg, patting Billy’s knee.
Billy looked at the birds covering the landscape of Bodega Bay. He said, “Good for these birds, taking back their beachfront property,” and imagined a seagull wearing sunglasses and sipping a margarita.
After the movie, Molly brought out the surprise: a pineapple upside-down cake on a large white plate.
Just before finishing his first slice, Billy decided to ask for a second slice.
“Sorry, but anyone mind if I jump in again?” Billy said, pointing to the cake.
Molly laughed and said, “Wow, Billy,” while pointing to everyone else’s plate, each one occupied with a barely-half-eaten slice of pineapple upside-down cake.
Billy cut a second slice and licked his lips dramatically as he lowered the slice onto his plate.
“Billy’s blood sugar is so high that his blood is sugar,” said Meg.
“He had a physical and the doctor told him he was pre-pre-diabetic,” Meg said to Molly in a low voice.
“It’s literally crack cocaine,” said Billy, crumbs falling out of his mouth, “like you literally cooked rock cocaine into your pineapple-upside down cake. It’s that good.”
“Thanks Billy,” said Molly.
3
Billy contemplated asking for a third slice of pineapple upside-down cake. He looked at the other plates and noticed everyone was still nursing their first slice of pineapple upside down cake. “Even after all this time,” he thought and wondered if he was the only one that actually liked the pineapple-upside down cake.
Billy listened to Chris talk about greed in the banking industry. Meg tried to interject things about the sexism in the tech industry but each time Chris steered the conversation towards greed in the banking industry. Billy checked out of the conversation and tried to think of a company that makes pineapple-upside down cake available in 7/11s around the country.
“This is boring. Let’s talk about something else,” said Meg.
“Sorry, Chris is just ‘incredibly attuned’ to all the ways the banks are fucking you over,” said Molly.
“Uhm, the banks are fucking you over?” said Chris.
“Okay, time to go,” said Meg.
“Yeah, it’s time to go,” said Billy.
Billy put on his coat and just before he left he wondered how rude it would be to ask for a plate of pineapple upside-down cake to-go.
4
Billy flipped his pillow and closed his eyes. He scratched his forehead and felt sweat on his fingertips. He wondered if Alfred Hitchcock gained weight by eating too much pineapple upside down cake. He thought about how common it is for a man to imprison a woman. He imagined Alfred Hitchcock in a recliner, eating pineapple upside down cake from a TV tray and thinking up ways to imprison Tippi Hedren.
Billy wondered if he had the ingredients to make pineapple upside down cake. He tried to take a mental inventory of his baking supplies. “I have zero pineapples,” he thought, sensing his body become restless. He flipped himself over and woke Meg up in the process.
Meg said, “Why are you awake?” but before he could answer she rolled over and fell asleep. Billy thought about how she’d regret falling asleep before hearing his plan to put pineapple upside down cakes in 7/11s around the country.
NORTHERN WOODS DOLL TURNED AWAY by Katherine Osborne
I will use both our deaths. I will use both our deaths to sing this song. Trees have advanced language. Take me to your Research Team. I will give them. Evidence. I was spoken to from the confusion of your stolen cattle. Date me back to an all-knowing Omaha.
Your mother has a secret stash of animals. Use them to find her. You better find. Her.
There is a vault of friendships filed under Fantasy Baseball. I win by a system of placing my bet on love without rules. I didn’t hear from you so I started famous one act plays. Lost you again this time I made some friends. You become a mother with or without your child. Grief speaks with the authority of an off the charts Jesus. Are you having dreams again? It doesn’t matter why won’t you call. You have discovered a casket years into the Earth. As if Earth knows how to lower such a thing. My baby lost her doll in the snowbank, so we had to make a rescue. What is it? You don’t believe me. Snow harder.
I open something on your computer and it kills the lights. I know you better than they do is the farm I buy from them. When you learn how to lucid through, the gods will learn from you. Walk right in, honey. You’ve got to run this show.
DEATH BED by Dóra Grőber
You're sitting in your bed, legs pulled up to your chest, black, unkempt hair in an unusual ponytail and you don't talk, not because he's not home but because you have nothing to say. Just a few hours ago you were standing on your desk and painting on the wall, first with a brush and then with your hands, listening to the song Rolling by Soul Coughing, not on repeat. You didn't feel like an artist but you didn't feel fake. You felt like this was recovery or at least some level or element of it, something he could see and think "he's getting better" and he would smile but he didn't come home and the half-done portrait feels more crazy than healthy now.
This woman in the group told you the other day you don't have to be happy, you just have to stay sober because realistic goals are key if you really want to reach them.
3 days ago J. came over and bought cola instead of booze and you wanted to tell him not to bother, to feel free to drink a beer or ten because you won't sway. It's been 4 months. You wanted to say if I want to get fucked up, I will, just like James Frey wrote in his book, and it doesn't matter whether you have a case of beer with you or not. You didn't drink because you felt like it would've been embarrassing, like losing a fight not against yourself but against J., which is stupid. You felt like it would make you look ridiculous and weak which you believe you are anyway even though you're trying hard to bring something home from all those sessions you sit through. Most of the time you just stare at your hands and listen and occasionally you offer a made-up story about yourself - you don't particularly need to fabricate stories, you just want to check if they can detect lies. They can't or they stick to their rule of respecting everybody's words equally. It makes them seem absolutely useless to you but you go every time anyway because you promised him you will and you don't feel like you've been trying enough yet. You think they can't or shouldn't be too soft or permissive if they want to help addicts, they have to be brutal because that's the only thing they understand or at least this seems to be true when you think about yourself. J.'s cheerful and forgiving and his forgiveness kills everything natural between you, you desperately hope only temporarily.
Self-forgiveness is the hardest part and you don't know what to do with the things you don't think you should forgive yourself for.
He's not home and he won't be for another 3 months and he said bad timing and he didn't want to go but you made him, you told him you needed to do this alone because he can't always be there to save you and you've always learned everything the hard way anyway, pushed right in the deepest of waters, but you miss him so much and you wish he were here and you remember how the leader of the group said you need to do this for yourself not for anybody else but sometimes you think it's bullshit and sometimes you think you'd be able to put up with anything, literally anything, 'til the end of times, to make him feel loved because words are cheap and you only use them to make a living. If he were here you wouldn't sit in your bed, you would be lying down.
You talk on Skype. You call each other. That means you call him too and not only when you're in need or trouble. You call him to tell him you made eggs for lunch and you call him to tell him nothing in particular. He always sounds calm and you can hear his smile and it makes your chest tighten with something elemental but you don't ask him to come home because you promised yourself not to be selfish, at the very least when it comes to him.
You deliberately don't tell him when you're in a bad mood - particularly bad because you almost always feel either numb or very anxious - because you don't want him to worry. He's worried anyway and you know it and you hate it because it makes you feel like some kind of a recurring illness instead of a partner. Cancer, cured for the moment, but you can never be entirely sure or relaxed. You jump at every sign, real or imagined.
Now the paint is slowly drying on the wall and you feel old and sad. This is not that blinding, heavy, sticky sadness that makes you sigh and make resigned gestures. This is sudden and not connected to him or his absence. As far as you can tell it's not connected to anything, maybe other than your whole life, your existence which simply narrows down to you sitting in your bed at this very moment. You don't feel pathetic, or that's not a dominant feeling. You feel small and you laugh at yourself for all the cliché thoughts that come to your mind about everything being meaningless and people not being more significant than mere specks of dust in the universe.
Most of the time you're bored out of your skull.
It's dark outside and the music stopped god knows when and you're getting hungry which is another newish feature or ability of yours, or at least newly discovered as O. reminded you once, and you tell yourself maybe something sweet or you think that and you say this is unreal. You want a drink to make the beginning of this unstable feeling go away. You want fifteen drinks and you want to be unconscious, preferably for a few hours or the whole night, and you want to pick a fight with someone stronger than you. He's never willing to hurt you even when you ask him to. The paint is slowly drying on the wall and you decide to paint something over that stupid face tomorrow. You want a drink. You want fifteen drinks. It's been 4 months.
You're slowly lying down.
CREATION STORY by Bob Schofield
At first the world was just one spiral.
Then that spiral grew a face.
The face was hungry. It filled with water. The face was silent, but never sleeping. A single tooth grew through the bottom.
The face was a word, and that word was “lake.”
The lake was tended by older creatures. Giants with horns and black spiral faces. The whole earth cooled beneath their shadow. They danced over the hills on cloven feet.
The lake was the twisting center of a universe. Gears were built to keep it all in motion. Fish were constructed, to keep the water swirling. If a fish got caught in the gears, well, that was tragic. But they found it made the machine spin even faster. All that was needed was heat. A touch of fire.
The lake was a factory that ran on smoke.
Empty space hung above the lake. A vacuum, roaring. This displeased the spiral giants, so they painted over it with sky. Papered over it with clouds as the bright blue paint dried. They attached blackbirds there with nails and a length of wire. Smoke was bound to paper wings.
The giants pulled dirt from their hooves, wrapped it in trench coats. They called the dirt “policemen,” and told them to stand guard over the lake.
Now the world was almost ready. Each part fit together. The sky. The stars. The fish. The blackbirds. Everything clicked in its proper position. Held with wire. Moving in slow motion. Line upon line, tracing the outer counters of the lake.
And the world was good.
Or, at the very least, not as terrible as it could be.
Then the giants carved themselves coffins out of lake water, and lay their bodies down to sleep, leaving the rest of it there to spin and spin
So much smoke and hurt and fishbones. So many chewed up blocks of ice.
But beneath the lake, the fish were changing.
Their bodies grew long. They started speaking. They climbed to the top of the lake, and decided to stay there. They had fallen in love with their own reflections. The sight of their new shapely legs.
From there, everything moved quickly. The fish wore fur. They turned into foxes and bears and people. They climbed even higher, and mated with blackbirds. Their children took stones, and built a city in the sky. They lived in relative peace there, putting on corsets and inventing light bulbs. They paid their rent, and poured white powder on their wigs.
In time the fish forgot about the caves and gears beneath the lake. They forgot the smoke and all that spinning. The constant hunger of the waves.
But a lake needs fuel to keep it spinning. Something disposable to burn. So each night the clouds would roll in, weighed down with the dead, the dying. The sick and ruined. Or those just left behind.
A door would bloom in each cloud’s belly. The knob would turn, the hinges creaking. A bloom of heat, and the sky would turn orange. Like a second sunset, only this one framed in writhing bodies. Wrapped in flame and crying softly. From a distance they looked so small you might not even see them clearly. You might mistake them for fireworks over the lake.
Afterwards the doors would shut. The clouds would retreat. The lake was fed, and the world kept spinning. Things went on like this for years. A mound of bodies formed in the lake’s center. Each night it grew by a few inches.
Soon the mound became a mountain, and the fire inside was not so small.