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1. Zugzwang When he reached zugzwang, he resisted the urge to upend the chess board. The bishop, the king—any move and it's checkmate. Fracturing a morning of raspberry scones, Sumatra blend coffee. He looked across the board at his…
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182800
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". . . with the impact of a 18-wheeler jack-knifed into a Mini-Cooper as it hits the surface."
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4421
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80 words. From a prompt: Write a piece about a restaurant whose menus rhyme.
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1656103
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One afternoon the kids from next door come over. Marion is our age, Jimmy a year younger. Marion's pretty. I can't even look at her.
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24012413
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Later I take his hand, and I lead him up the stairs. I want to show him something, I say.
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2420
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To hell with it, I thought. If it goes in, we go in with it. Wish my ex was here.
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74105
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Once when we were new she swung her foot in rage and I caught it. Black stocking, toenails polished red, beautiful silk appendage. Urge, desideratum, compulsion. I pulled her toward me, collapsed us together.
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261452
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. . . at midnight three zombies and a vampire gather for a game of Texas hold ’em.
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22422416
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He would lean on his window sill in the evening and watch the whores. They wore gaudy clothes and too much makeup.
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1918145
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19601311
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When she opens the door, I say hi and introduce her to my friend, a bottle of J.T.S. Brown. She laughs and tells me to come on in before I fall down.
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1991179
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I turned on the television last night, and one of the networks had a segment about a girl with no nose.
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156864
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Harpo was there with his wife. Harpo’s girlfriend came up behind the couch where I was sitting, and I ran my hand up her leg underneath her dress.
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214118
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“Sounds like a wonderful duet; you groan and I moan. Hell, I’ll work up a moan that’ll drive dogs bonkers.”
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5572
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A sampling of complaints written on paper scraps: the bathrooms smell like urine, the pay is meager, the owner has octopus hands.
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