Dead Man’s Hill
What appeared to be a man, hovered over a smoldering fire smoking a cigarette. His bony purple fingers tightly gripping a rectangular bottle.
Jingle Bell
The bell jingled over the door. Frankie looked up. His apron stained with dried blood. A cleaver in his right hand and the limp leg of a of a recently slaughtered lamb in his other.
A Green Bottle Fly Takes Stock of His Life
This yard is fantastic. There’s never a shortage of poo. Piles of poo everywhere. Look! There’s one! And another over there! And another! Oh, boy, how long has this one been here? Poo doesn’t go rotten does it? Nah, of course not!
Without Honors
It’d been 5 days since the assembly fuck-up. The house was like a morgue. Nobody’d talked to nobody. I worked as much overtime as they threw at me just to stay away.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Mickey turned and raised his eyebrows to him. “She smokes.” He inhaled from the depths of his belly, smiling, closing his eyes. “Smell that? What you think she does with those ashes?”
![[EXCERPT] Gorski and The Goat](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1508634349438-SXP8FPQTBSDWWUQR18T3/Goat.png)
[EXCERPT] Gorski and The Goat
On a urine-stained olive green cot in the back room of Rosalda’s Cantina in Ciudad Juarez, I came to. Blacked out. Again. A smell I couldn’t quite put a finger on. Rank breath, a muffled gurgle and what felt like whiskers. I hope not our hostess, or worse, one of her chicas.
The Truth Will Set You Free...
Here it comes, kid. For some time upcoming, you'll pass those places and moments when things were shiny and wonderful but the patina of betrayal will be right there to make each one bittersweet. Sonofabitch, I hate this part.
The Foley Artiste
She wanted to be lusted after, to be prey to the kind of men who fetishized her. She understood that kind of power over men. Her husband was not susceptible to that sort of control and, she imagined he might not be even if his eyes functioned.
The Dumbass Tree
The tree loved the woman but even more than the woman
The tree loved the idea of being in love.
What the tree didn't know
Because trees were long on roots but fucking short on brains
Was that woman only loved two things:
Herself and immediate gratification.
The Perils of Outer Space
Captain Jason Blue had been floating in space for nearly ten hours. He was going to asphyxiate in his suit in a matter of minutes.
Collateral Damage Group Session
“I just don't want to lose what little bit of myself I still have pursuing something that will only leave me with nothing in the end."
Finding Geena
When someone tells a lie like this for so long to so many people, the lie becomes a habit and habits become addiction.
The Campfire Rule
Intense self indulgence is rarely very different from intense self destruction. It’s just a slower version of it. Unless you’re in Vegas and then the two are roughly equivalent.
The Minotaur and the Mermaid
Carl knew better than to fall for a Mermaid. Notoriously fickle and prone to deception, Mermaids had a viciousness only equalled by their beauty.
The Chameleon
"OK. Calm down," responded Davis. "This is a classic John Hughes kind of dilemma. You're dating three different women. You like each one equally but for different reasons. Let's really make a Nick Hornsby list and see who you see yourself with in, say, seven years.
Grizzly
He lied there, the beast breathing slowly, and wondered what happened? Where was his wife? Did she do this to him? Why?
The Taste of Mourning
At first he couldn't find her. He knew she couldn't be far. He heard something like an animal and turned the corner. There she was, on all fours, loping through the parking lot like a dog or chimpanzee.
The Yeti Rings Twice
Yetis and Unicorns will never stay together long.
Til Death (or Dismemberment) Do Us Part
"Are you waking up, lover? I'm sorry about your tongue, Sweetie, but I had to take it. Can't have you talking to people about me, can I? I'm a little sad because even though you were always a blowhard, I'll miss our conversations about things. Hold on a sec. You won't feel this except for a little pressure but this thing is really loud."
The Consequence of Bad Choices
"I'm you. From nine years in your future. I'm not entirely sure how I got here but I figured out exactly whyonce I saw that I was in Chicago on this day. I knew exactly where you'd be. I'm here, I think, to prevent devastation."
Anxiety is the thing that’s ripped our country apart. It has divided us, caused us to fear and hate those who think and live differently than us, and even caused us to hate those who only slightly disagree with us. It has led to panic and overreaction. And I worry that American Anxiety is only going to exacerbate the social and political divide in this country to the point that there is no coming back.