This was the end of things. Just as the balmy sea shoots forward over the dry sand, giving it moisture and warmth, making the grains form together into one mass, the sea must one day be absorbed back into the ocean, leaving the grains as cold and separate as they were before. Marshall stared at…
Marvin, 32, pushes open a screen door and steps onto his porch. His is skinny and a bit unhealthy looking, wearing a bathrobe and sandals. He takes a sip from his mug of coffee and peers off into the day. Marvin: Time to fuck this day in the ass. Time to take this fuckin day,…
Wed Me: The Come Up The lodge was massive: constructed fully of logs, it squatted on the wide acme of a hill, the wings and verandas and porticos branching downwards towards the driveway, which did a full loop around the structure. Three chimneys puffed grey smoke that clung to the surrounding redwoods before drifting off…
Phil shouldn’t have let Gaffney choose the music. He had relinquished control over the stereo along with the wheel about 30 miles back, and Gaffney had immediately started blasting a ludicrous rap album that sounded like someone stomping on a Casio. The lyrics were worse; the current song seemed to just be a litany of…
Lasko stood in the dark hallway after Tom had disappeared into his room. The cab’s meter was still running downstairs, ticking away at Lasko’s funds. But now it was time to stand in the dark. Lasko had learned that sometimes standing in the dark was necessary. His face could do what it wanted. There was…
TT: Hello out there in radio-land! This is the Threadbare Traveler, comin at you raw with this week’s installment of “Head-to-Head.” We’ve got a great panel for you tonight, guys. On my left is Mr. Dark— Mr. Dark: Hullo…great to be here. TT: —and on my right is Mr. Black. Mr. Black: Sup. TT: Tonight…
It was an incredibly profane business card. The back was completely devoted to a picture of a chick straddling a Harley. She was wearing a string bikini the color of pink hi-liters that only covered about 20 percent of her tits, allowing the potential client to see the paw print tattoos adorning them. Her hair…
The bent gnome at the Safeway cash register was already in a foul mood when the next customer approached. Her last transaction was so noxious that she had been forced to mutter dark little gnome curses at the departing customer’s back while fantasizing about their milk going bad and their eggs rupturing erratically before they…
Stan was tossing his deadened cell in the back of his Mercedes when the jalopy rolled up to the club. It was a busted-up bucket, with jagged rust-holes rent through the sides and an engine that sounded like it was being tortured. The car didn’t park, but instead idled in the middle of lot, its…
Patient Rob stared with dark-rabbit eyes as the first thirty seconds ticked off the clock. “…so I get to the club, y’know, and there’s this new bouncer there, some skinny prick…don’t even know why they hired him, couldn’t bounce shit.” Therapist Chodoff slowly uncrossed and recrossed his legs while snuggling back deeper into his plush,…
The Other Hudson Valley 