Tragic Strip
by T. MotleyFiction
Sit at your table with a plate of grapes. Look at them closely. How deformed they are.
The Diary of Martín Santomé: A Novel
by Mario BenedettiFiction
The manager called me into his office. I could never stand that man; he’s so marvelously common and cowardly. On a few occasions he’s tried to bare his soul to me, his abstract existence, and I’ve encountered a repulsive image.
3 stories
by Anna MocklerFiction
He’s abrupt with you because he’s busy. Because he’s preoccupied. Because he’s upset. Because he’s sad. He doesn’t want to make love to you because he’s tired. Because he’s depressed. You hurt his feelings. You cut your hair.
from Clèves
by Marie DarrieussecqTranslated from the French by Linda Coverdale
Fiction
Her parents are having friends over. They’re drinking rosé. “Off you go then, to your village fair.” The guests whistle when she appears in her dress. Her mother kisses her and rubs her cheek to get the lipstick off. Her father gives her a ten-franc note.
from The Secret Life of Objects
by Dawn RaffelFiction
The vase—blue, pottery—was a gift from my college boyfriend. We’d drifted apart and become just friends for a few years and sometimes we wrote and sometimes we called and we invited each other to our weddings in cities four hours apart and neither of us went to the other’s wedding and we sent each other presents.
