The First
The Brothers are old, and there are four of them now instead of five. This makes it easier to deal a round of pusoy dos, which is one way they find comfort in their loss. When they sit down at their table and start to shuffle the cards, one …
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Fast and Bright and Hurtful
Lorna wore smoked glasses despite the night and kept taking them off only to put them back on. “It’s funny how old grapes make you feel. All warm and gooey.” She twisted the radio’s knob until a popular boy band came on. She adored Ricky Martin, ‘N Sync too. …
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Anthroponymy
The first name appeared in my coffee. Every Tuesday, I met Albie at the coffee shop a block from his apartment. I placed my standard order. As always, Albie mocked me for not taking my coffee black. When my latte came, I didn’t immediately notice something was wrong. …
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The Ash Father
The first time I saw my father putting down roots, I thought it was just another of his eccentricities. He’d been acting strangely for years—forgetting names, hiding crumpled bills in coat pockets, staring off into the horizon with his mouth slightly open. He had always been honest, generous …
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Voicemails
We’re at Tony’s Italian by the mall when my husband orders cheesy breadsticks and announces he’s leaving me. “I wanted to do it at your favorite restaurant,” he tells me later, “so you’d have comfort food handy.” I wonder what I’ve done to make him think Tony’s …
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The Wing
The morning Nadine’s feathers sprouted, a light snow fell. She was standing outside, watching Meg board the school bus, noticing how the little girl’s hair, frizzy like her own, glistened with snow, making Meg—or Meg’s hair—look surprised, an electrified Who, me? Like a shocked halo. Or a crown, afloat. …
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Cousins
I heard about Xu before I met him. Ma liked to tell the story when he collapsed in the street while carrying bananas from one side of the town to the other. The vendors made a gurney and rushed him to the hospital. On the way, he woke up …
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Foreman
There are four men in this crew. Dwayne and Jackson were around last summer. Scottie started a few weeks ago. Tom is the foreman. Tom has been calling Scottie, “Jimmy” since day one. After Jimmy Connors, the old tennis player. Scottie has narrow eyes, a brown bowl of hair …
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The Buzzing Means That Mom’s Back
May. Cicadas emerge from the earth, glistening and horny and pissed as all hell. Everyone loves to hate on cicadas, but Cenna’s dislike is more specific. Cicadas mean summer. She doesn’t trust summer. Sure enough, on the Friday before Memorial Day, her older sister calls. “Guess who’s …
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A Pound of Cure
I went to the street market with my grandmother every Sunday until I turned sixteen, when I didn’t understand her as anything other than grandma and mam, and her big voice felt like Moses splitting the sky to make room for the two of us. We’d see folks from …
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