The assault was only verbal, but injurious nonetheless. Not just to the victim, but to the fragile peace that held the third floor together. The tension was always present, morale on the brink of disaster. As if the girders beneath the carpet would crumble with the smallest acknowledgment of truth.… Read More »Last Day at The Office
Arrayed on a slab of gray slate, the tools of the trade sat untouched as an aging prodigy furrowed his brow. Each piece, the masterwork version at the maximum price, was perfect. The instruments of precision were usually a reliable conduit, but nothing was coming through. And so they remained,… Read More »The Architect
Paul was tired, and had been for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t that the days were long, though they were, or that he wasn’t getting enough sleep, though he certainly wasn’t getting the doctor’s recommended amount of rest in the few fitful hours he spend coughing in… Read More »The Works
“So what exactly are you trying to say?” Arms folding, closing her posture, Natalie looked straight ahead, head tilted slightly forward, staring past her clenched eyebrows with skepticism. The cafe buzzed around them, scattered people contending with the complexities of their own lives and paying little mind to the somber… Read More »Isaac and Natalie
A lumpy bullfrog plopped into the pond, imprinting the algae with a splayed leg silhouette. The boy clapped his hands with excitement and went slogging into the mucky little watering hole after it, his toes sinking into squishy earth and slimy green soaking into his rolled up corduroys. He didn’t… Read More »Lord of The Grasshoppers
The coffee was burnt and Teddy was pissed. Four mornings in a row now, his favorite part of the day – that first sip, before the morning rush, as tightly wrapped silverware clinked its way onto booth-wrapped tables and the scent of fresh cut onions danced through the double hinged… Read More »Another Day on The Job
Stasis crested the four hour mark, and the inhabitants of Car 67 began to grow restless. Delays were normal, of course, but this stoppage was anything but. Since the moment they rumbled to a halt, nervousness festered, and as the sun set in the desert, the decorum of self-containment eroded… Read More »Off The Rail
Nine avocados in the bag, each in in varying degrees of ripeness. A wide brimmed hat. A gallon and a half of water divided among two containers and Kalai already had blisters forming on his feet. He’d made sure to give each of the green almost-orbs a good squeeze before… Read More »The Mountain Keeper
She couldn’t remember her name, or much else, but as the fair haired woman awoke on a bed of frost-covered leaves, a distant smell of sulfur flirting with the cool air around her nostrils, she knew she was responsible for ruin. With gloved hands, she patted her torso, arms, legs… Read More »Specialist
At precisely 9:12am, on a September morning that could only be described as pleasant, Gary got his very first taste of philosophy. The bus was running late, as it often did, but the man’s patience was unwavering. For as many of his forty-three years as he could remember, Gary was… Read More »Bus Stop