202 0 0 
      
			 
			
			
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				The line of the unemployed 
wrapped back on itself 
like an accordion pleat 
and extended all the way across 
a great hall 
You could see the faces 
of them, bluish and drawn 
under the dim florescent 
lighting 
First in line were laid-off 
be 
					
				 
				
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20 9 0 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				"Lady, if Walter says there's a broken pipe down there, there IS a broken pipe down there."  
 
					
				 
				
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938 3 0 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				I talked to the Saved Man in a bar in Khao Lak, Christmas Day 2004. Not that I cared that it was Christmas: I remember the date because of what happened the next day. 
					
				 
				
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68 9 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				We ate takeout Chinese.  Two days before, we learned the feds were coming.  Two months into this job, it was time to call my parents, say, I’m jobless again. 
					
				 
				
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1230 2 1 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				I look as sympathetic as I can, under the circumstance, which is entirely unsympathetic. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1892 12 5 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				The right is empty, waiting to receive the load like a catcher behind home plate. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1629 7 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				“Americans like beer, right?” he asks. “It’s not acceptable for a woman to buy beer.” He proffers it in a brown paper bag.
 
					
				 
				
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1535 3 0 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Something reached into Avi and took his voice, turning his volume to zero....
A short story of one day. A man going to work, a little magic, a car crash, and a wedding. 
					
				 
				
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121 3 1 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				me and my best mate, with a fat polish girl on his lap, her hip tight against the dashboard and she’s laughing at all our jokes told in very bad French. 
					
				 
				
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289 0 0 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				The woman smiled at the scene. She closed her eyes to accept one final, warm kiss before the fence swallowed the sun whole. A cool breeze stirred itself from slumber, fanning Muriel’s face the moment the sun’s last ray stopped lingering.  
					
				 
				
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274 2 1 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				I won't have to see the inside of an office building ever again. Well, except when I finally start that charity in my name that helps homeless teens look more attractive. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1330 0 0 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Hits start, enters numbers, runs the program / Does this again one hundred times / Then takes a break 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
164 8 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				I stand frozen on the wall, with 40 pounds of tarpaulin  slung over my shoulder. A late winter chinook wind howls off the front range.  Stevie says we've been assigned to move a stack of tarps to another spot. This  involves navigating a traverse of about 50 feet across… 
					
				 
				
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118 10 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				The ironic symbolism of thinking about fornication while feeding an 8 foot long steel shaft into the orifice of a machine that chops it into little pieces is not completely lost on me. However, this is no place to contemplate life in terms of Freudian ima 
					
				 
				
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1270 1 0 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Snap!
Dylan’s arms flung forward as the rod bent toward the ocean. “Holy God! What did I snag? 
					
				 
				
			 |