The phone rang as I was locking up for the night and I thought about leaving it ring. Then I thought about my bank account, went back around the desk, picked up, and said: “Conde.” An older man’s voice came on the line, dry as a desert bone. “Ah yes, Mr....
The night was sticky and hot and I was sweating plenty even though it was well past sunset. Gravel crunched beneath my shoes, echoed loud off abandoned buildings. This neighborhood wasn’t safe after dark but I was hurting and needed to be here. A five-inc...
Bishop’s Lounge was busy and loud and blue with smoke. I sat by myself back in a dark corner booth, contributing my share of smoke and watching Angela. She had come in with a group of work friends and they sat at one of the tables chattering and drinking...
I was tailing the unfaithful husband of a neurotic client down a dark alley when someone slipped behind me and put a gun to my neck. I heard Bugsy’s voice and knew I had a problem.“Frank Danger, P.I.!” he said with a delighted baritone that rumbled like a...
A white ball streaked across green felt and snapped into a triangle of colorful balls. The formation exploded, and the balls thumped off rails, clicked off one another, came to rolling stops. Two stripes fell into pockets.Billy Miller removed a greasy ba...
The woman sat at the bar and stared into her drink and Harvey stood behind her. He laid a hand on her back and leaned in so his mouth was in her ear. “Did you get it?”She nodded at her drink.Harvey sat down. “Beautiful.”The bartender walked over. “What ca...
She pulled from her cigarette, blew a stream of white smoke over my head, and asked: “Really John, what are you implying?”“I’m not implying anything,” I said. “I’m telling you flat-out that you killed your husband.”She blinked. There was a slight clenchin...
We followed railroad tracks by the forest, and the tracks followed the river. A white moon hung full and bright to our right, fluorescent on the water. To our left, dense black trees grew close to the tracks. Chalk-white stones glowed with the moon, piled...
Since 1946, the same electric sign has hung out over the sidewalk in front of Dusty’s Pub. The sign features a cartoon French maid dusting the word “Dusty’s” with a feather duster.One warm summer evening in 1978, Dusty, the club’s namesake and creative ge...
He stood in a large hole, perhaps four feet deep and five or six in diameter. The digging was strenuous, the ground comprised of gravel and sand. With each thrust, the shovel stopped dead, sending a jolt through his arms, his shoulders, his back. Every fe...
Rush the stageAnd fight your wayThrough tempest of the sea This oceanRaging, churningOh, how it beckons thee! Rush the stageIn foaming wavesLook straight up to see Close enough to touch himYou could almost wash his feet! And every night he battlesAnd ever...
He stared in disbelief as fire consumed the world. On every side it raged, roaring through century-old trees like a blowtorch through dry straw. He watched detached, as animals scampered to and fro in terror and he realized in an offhand way that he was c...
The stuffed bear was dearer to the boy than a pet, perhaps dearer than a cousin or sibling. Always, he brought it along to Grandma’s farm.When he snagged it on a barn nail, cotton stuffing erupted. He stared horrified then sprinted to the house, every sec...
