1486 6 4
|
It was 6 a.m. when the phone next to the bed awakened Francesco.
|
148600
|
“You. There,” said the fellow, pointing his gun like a dead finger. “You believe that water saves the soul, don’t you?” Thomas looked to the other boys for an answer, but they didn’t know any more than he did.
|
148661
|
The old man is dead,
body propped in its cart
like the dead El Cid
strapped on his horse by Jimena
to save Valencia,
and yet...
|
148675
|
It is not unusual for farmers to see the future before it’s begun—but I am not speaking here only of the need to hope but more. . . .
|
148600
|
Josh was having a hard enough time getting through his final year of studies without having his sister point out his fledgling love life to his parents.
|
1485103
|
We are what we are, and that is zombies.
|
148500
|
The summer was announcing itself in thick waves of heat that rolled like a slow motion hurricane inside Mark Keeler's 1971 Mercury Montego. The car baked in a…
|
148561
|
I'm not dying. What is it called if you think you might have Hypochondria but you really don't? I'm worried that's what I have. Is it cold in here? Or is it me, dying?
|
148500
|
Randy stood in the alley behind Krasnowski Construction with a loaded gun shoved down the front of his pants. His friend Todd was inside, unloading the safe. And when Todd walked out the door, Randy was going to shoot him in the face.
|
148596
|
|
148520
|
Christmas Muzak was piped through to every store in the shopping mall. Giant red velvet bows adorned reproduction Victorian gaslights. Yards of glittered cotton pretended to be snow. A Santa rang a brass bell.
|
148531
|
Alcohol and American writers have always had a connection–about 70 percent of American winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature could be considered heavy drinkers if not more.
|
148545
|
Art books, paintings, antique chairs, marble tables, full length gold gilded mirrors, oriental rugs, tapestries, a Louis XVI painted French armoire, a wrought iron Deco coffee table, flat ware, silver flasks, mantel lamps, iron gates, a silk settee, theat
|
148573
|
In winter The Woods sleeps and the Woodsman comes. He collects the dead wood and makes coal. He nurses the injured animals and prepares the dying. He distributes the snow and regulates the temperature. In his fur hat…
|
1485198
|
...collapse of the human world. Go, cell phones!
|
148574
|
The world is slick as alabaster, taking the guesswork out of the rain. Junction Road moves like thick grease under the tires of my '89 Skyhawk. The old car's making a clicking noise somewhere underneath the high-beam switch and the damn…
|
148532
|
His eyes were marbles floating over a void.
|
148586
|
The drop is like a hangman's drop, an executioner's, but farther and longer, perhaps three or four seconds.
|
1485106
|
We bought a grand piano at Steinway Hall after 9/11, chased uptown by the dust of death and awakening from dreams of miniature jumpers stuck in the icing of white wedding cakes
|
148561
|
The lipstick on your collar walked up the steps and through the front door, without a key. Her smile was hypnotically red and bountiful. The guards standing around didn't dare frisk her for weapons, her lips were weapon enough.
|
148534
|
“That pool will be the death of me.”Which Dad said at least a couple of times a week. Ten times the week after he'd read the TXU bill.“Goddamn pump, and that twitchy little Polaris. We should fill that pool with dirt and plant some trees and Asian…
|
148575
|
I was tired and lonesome when I checked into another insufferable, shop-worn Holiday Inn. It was the only motel around with the internet — dial up only — in that little jerkwater town, Notmuch, Alabama. It was too late for a nap, so I jumped in the shower,…
|
148453
|
The bar was dark and a little dirty, and that suited Splinker's mood just fine.
|
148420
|
The boy grew frightened when his grainy wooden skin began to melt, every fiber humming and softening.
|
148485
|
Stroman reached over and stroked the perimeter of Rouge's chin with his thumb. 'I am just joking. You are my soul-mate, you know that?'
|
14841610
|
He trembled as she splayed open his palm...
|
148485
|
the emergence of the Beatles and the Vietnam War
sad human electricity
no buzz of any wheel
|
148476
|
"It was John-Darren who once told me that he felt sorry for women."
|
148400
|
She wheeled more deeply into the office towards Mason’s desk. Keith hurried to the desk and pulled the chair out of the way for her and a sat down next to her. She was blue-eyed, pale and completely hairless, which made it difficult to guess her age.
|
148401
|
I was driving by with a dampened eye
|
