Not far from the university campus, an elderly man walking his small dog turns into an underpass and finds a shopping trolley, alone in the tunnel. The sight of it, suddenly there, a skeletal shadow in the empty space, makes him jump. The underpass is a regular route for students returning to campus from the…
Tag: Surreal
With Compliments
We are the hotel of the lost. There are no maps on the front desk, because none of you would read them. There isn’t a street sign on the wall outside. The door has no number. You found us anyway. Welcome. * Sinead has been running. Two minutes late is okay. Five is a problem….
You Met God in a Gas Station at 3AM and He Hated You
He bought a pack of Rizlas and kept you waiting while he counted the change.You stood perfectly still to hold the moment open and tried not to care about how he stared at your tits. This was one of those nights where the world had endedand you hoped it would begin again with an empty…
This Blasted Horse
Shhyes, all of younosey parkerslurking behind trembling lacepottering in perms and dowdy dressesbutt outdon’t say itI don’t want to hear a word not a peepthing is, this blasted horse he doesn’t sleep and I’m not sure what he does when I sleepif I…maybe he squeezes into the lift, goes for a canter round the streets,…
Daytime Television
First Program Spiders The talk show host invites the Naturalist onto his stage. The Naturalist looks as all Naturalists do: he is dressed in khaki shorts, a button-up white shirt, a pith helmet, brown leather boots. The exposed bits of his arms and legs are coated in a thick layer of hair, a little too…
Five Stories in Which the Devil Appears
I A woman is walking to her car with a bag of groceries. Her young daughter is waiting inside the car. The woman has instilled in her daughter a powerful fear of strangers. The daughter thinks a strange man will try to kidnap her if he sees her sitting in the car alone, so she…
Empty Frames
They are in a field in one of the two town parks. This is the larger, nicer park, and so this is the park they like to take their children to on the weekends so that they may soak up the things that magazines say they should be soaking up. Children like jumping in colorful…
Red Feathers
Seventeen-year-old JD DeMondo is positively flapping with excitement, straining against the straps on his seat. He is inside a giant metal bird. This bird is way up high in the sky. The sky is the best colour. This is JD’s first time on a plane. He got the window seat. He is on his way…
Trophy Room, Burnby Hall
A warthog twitched its narrow jaws and blinked alive; a hunting dog peeled its black lips. Our ancestors were speaking through them. One asked why a girl had turned her granddad’s photo to the wall. Another begged his son (too late) run home, unplug the generator chugging inside the living room, waking the neighbours. A…
Best of Drive-Thru
—Welcome to Large Burger. Where the burgers are large and the smiles are on the house. Can I take your order? —Do you have a chicken? —We offer a range of chicken options including our signature Ranch Wagon and Ultimate Chicken five-piece dinner. Chicken sandwiches are also available in nugget form, with a variety of…