The city was a marshmallow of sticky smog and I wanted out. I carried bags loaded with beach towels and sandwiches down the front steps while George checked the oil of the old car. I had to step around a couple of languid coffee drinkers who’d spilled out of the café on the corner and made themselves comfortable on our stairs. Everyone was in my way. [Read more...]

The dog, Spirit, came up from the cove looking like he’d been walking through tar. His eyes were still mirthful, though closing toward one of his late-afternoon naps. Nestor didn’t like the looks of it. Now he’d have to hose the dog off or face the contempt of Sandra. “Ha, dog,” Nestor sighed as Spirit [Read more...]

What I remember most is the doorbell interrupting loudly and repeatedly; a melody of identical pitches that evoked nervousness and a sense of urgency. I was molding Play-Doh on the kitchen table, and my father glanced at me before moving swiftly towards the front door. Though only six years old at the time, I was [Read more...]

It was two o’clock in the afternoon in a rooming house on Hutchinson Street, but it could have been anytime. David put his suitcase down on the threadbare carpet next to the large bag from the charity shop and flicked on the light. A single bulb cast a watery yellowish glow from behind a screw-on [Read more...]

Every year in the last week of summer, just before school started, the carnival came to town. It took up most of the parking lot of the strip mall on top of the hill, overlooking the highway. The Carousel, Tea Cups, The Matterhorn, and Moby Dick materialized like visiting relatives from far away, mysterious yet familiar, in town for a few days, looking slightly older than they did the year before.

Dad was the biggest carnival fan. He talked it up throughout the summer, the anticipation mushrooming by August. “Carnival’s coming!” [Read more...]

In the Ivory Coast in Abidjan they like to eat bats in gooseberry jam. Gabriel Contamine likes to eat Lesieur canned peas, on Friday night, lounging in front of the TV. A documentary on the sex life of the staghorn sumac lets Gabriel forget the internecine plots hatched that week at the office, forget his [Read more...]