A ninety-second video did for us what three years of pleading could not: convince Amma to let us adopt a puppy.
“I have one hopeless husband, two thankless children, and endless chores. Why would I want to add a smelly …
“So… How’re you holding up, Charlie?”
He just looked at me for a minute. And then he shrugged. It was shady on the porch but he was squinting a little. He’d taken off his sunglasses. I knew he felt like …
“Honey, what’s a five-letter word for ‘dismissed an employee?’”
Ruth looked up from her crossword. Their therapist said puzzles helped with cognitive agility. Her eyes were alert and intent; that gave Jonathan comfort.
“Any letters?”
“The second one may be …
They pile us on a field. Try to identify us, contact loved ones.
I think of older sister Nancy.
She must be coming.
She could joke about my love of Polo shirts and say I love you. Call me …
I cry a lot these days.
It started when a delivery driver showed up at my front door with a box. Knowing what was inside was of no consolation. My eyes welled up as I signed his paperwork, intentionally looking …
I tossed your clothes out the window, let them rain down on you along with my rage, while you stood looking up, begging for yet another chance. I’d hoped that would be the end of it. Every last trace of …
The crowd outside is angry. They shout obscenities at each other to build courage, shake pieces of pipe, boards, baseball bats, all to manufacture menace. They mill about the beyond the house, waiting for their pinned back energy to reach …
I can’t believe I liked a guy who hates tomatoes and treats books badly. I can forgive the other stuff, the little things, the classics like leaving the toilet seat up and lying all the time, but this? Too far, …
(Translated from Japanese by Toshiya Kamei)
By the time I reached Ayutthaya Railway Station, my enthusiasm for wandering the world had waned considerably. It was now the fourth night since I left Japan.
The ruins and ancient Buddha statues failed …
The American looked tired. The paper band of airport codes wrapped around the handle of his luggage told of boarding at La Guardia and deplaning in Edinburgh. He had caught the local rail here, to Waverley station. He was unfamiliar …