Stories tagged work

~the brilliant machine~

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when the sun goes down alone vice is forgotten in the night wind your lover's voice on the phone held fast in the balance of gravity and momentum overcoming inanimate objects and the unknown

Ten Minutes in the Life of Franziska Kafka

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bullet points about her soul

Ode to Our Comms System

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Not a lovely view As lovely as it is

Rain Turtle

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The first thing Vera did after her dismissal from the mortuary was buy a pack of cigarettes.

The Dog

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Carl finished his beer, burped, crushed the aluminum can on the floor with his foot. “Oop, now we’re outta beer.” “Alright, let’s send the dog.” They did. They sent the dog. The first time Luther trotted down the sidewalk. The next time, Henry let t

FANTASY

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Normally I would have never drank such a wine, but it was late on a Friday evening and the bottle was on the house...

Good Help Is Hard To Find

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Some of them are notorious tweakers. Nobody epitomizes the cowboy-outlaw biker more than the ironworkers, who are wired on Black Beauties they sell on breaks. Bulldozers rumble over loose red soil, kicking up dust and spewing acrid exhaust. Machinery clamors and…

Communism: the Old Guard and the New Guard

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In the world of Communism, there is the Old Guard and the New Guard, and they do not get along.

Important Questions

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I listen to my psychotherapy patients complain about their lives all day. Bitterly, hopelessly. I listen for little openings that offer possibilities for changing perspective and feeling weller. But my five minutes between each session, whether it includes a bathroom or…

Wind From The West

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I stand near the wall, a 40 pound roll of tarpaulin across my shoulders. A blustery Chinook wind blows steadily off the snow covered foothills. I'm trying to psyche myself up to haul a tarp across a span of narrow wall that's studded with spikes of greased blue steel…

Goliath

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He glances at the other patrons of the café. He has the mix of middle management goliath and shy, fat kid at a school swimming pool. Neither fit comfortably but it's as bespoke as his suit, protective as fat. The arm rests on the table curling protectivel

Mantis

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Sally knows the situation: if your name's on the list you can't come in. If they try to walk past her, swipe their card on the electronic barrier's scanner, instead of a short benevolent bleep and the gate sliding open, it will fail. The hapless individua

Patrick Wanted To Be An Astronaut

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Patrick, who works on Pizzas, actually has a first class degree in astrophysics.

Al Williams Passes The Johnny Walker Talking Stick

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Back then, the summer was made of real dirt, hard dirt, shattered shale that lodged under your fingernails, a lifetime of black blot tattoos, ink that penetrated, infiltrated, streaking sepsis with the infectious words, fuck him, fuck you,…

Salt of the Earth

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Eddie operates a drill press. A robotic automaton, he stands at the same machine day after day wearing a grimy beanie and filthy cover-alls. Smoke curls from a cigarette dangling on his lower lip. Most of his teeth are missing and he drools profusely and stutters…