George searched his pockets for change, cluttering the counter with lint and pen caps, a crumpled tissue, pausing to clean his glasses while the tobacconist waited at the open register. It was the tobacconist he cared about, not the neatly lined cigars he had thumbed through moments earlier. George could see the smoke shop from his kitchen window, and last week had watched the tobacconist as he emerged and stood on the street corner in a pouring rain, until his coat was drenched through and rain … [Read more...] about The Tobacconist
Web Exclusive
Jaws
That's the book she cracks as soon as she's fought off her little brother for the back. Not a hatchback, that is a decade in the future, but the way back, where the station wagon's nasty final seats never get pulled up into position, the one with the backwards view, her preferred. The roads to the north are pretty straight—what is there to bend them?—and except for a series of smooth dips that everybody shrieks through, flat as the pancakes she had for breakfast. Perfect for extreme terror on … [Read more...] about Jaws
When a Woman Thinks That Her House Is on Fire
Nasya Beckman wakes to the smell of smoke. She rolls onto her side and swats clumsily at her alarm clock, as though this is the source of the disturbance, as though this is some new technology for waking heavy sleepers—the release of gas. In fact, the alarm clock is an antique, a six-inch double-bell with a little copper hammer. It was a gift from Nasya’s rabbi for her one hundred volunteer hours as a kiddush hostess, minyan attendee, and Bikur cholim coordinator. Her rabbi said he’d never seen … [Read more...] about When a Woman Thinks That Her House Is on Fire
The Supervillain Stalled in His Lair
There is nothing that occupies the Supervillain’s mind more, nothing that is a more constant source of obsession and angst, than his secret lair. Even the Superhero, his great nemesis, manifests as an afterthought compared to his lair (although the threat of the Superhero is, of course, a prime source of the anxiety the Supervillain feels about his hidden home). His worst moments of worry occur at times such as these, when the Supervillain is working in his laboratory. He has been perfecting … [Read more...] about The Supervillain Stalled in His Lair
All the Girls We Knew in the Suburbs
It was the night before Christmas, but all that meant to us was that no one else was out and the suburbs were our playgrounds more than ever. We were two Jewish kids from the city and it was not our holy night. No family unwrapping ceremonies awaited us in the morning. Our days of unwrapping, all eight of them, had ended a week earlier, though those days of miracle light were not our holiest. Everyone thought that because they fell so close to Christmas, even if no one ever knew exactly when; … [Read more...] about All the Girls We Knew in the Suburbs
Edge Habitat
The window over the kitchen sink looks out at the backyard. Theory’d been, she could watch the kids play. Croquet or whatever. That was a long time ago. Carl had put in a garden that turned out to be popular with local wildlife. Once the shoots were up they came and returned, voracious. Subsequent Googling to learn that deer like edge habitat. Which is what this is, he said. The edge. The best place. He installed that fence, the so-called exclosure, a metal net reinforced with steel rods. … [Read more...] about Edge Habitat