My father’s cigar-smoking, or rather its imminent threat, had caused our banishment to the porch. After supper, Dad had taken a cigar from his shirt pocket with the practiced deliberation of an actor. Mom, recognizing the cue as hers, stood and began clearing the dishes. “Marcel,” she said, “you’re not going to smoke that…
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“I’m going to throw up. I’m going to throw up. I’m going to throw up all over my wedding dress!” I said. “Breathe,” my friend, Monica, replied. I breathed. I didn’t throw up. It was past the time of morning sickness so something else was wrong. The woman in the mirror in front of me reapplied the…
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A chipper young boy with a comfortingly high number dribbled a soccer ball through the aisles, weaving in between all of the tens of thousands and thousands and hundreds. His mother was one of the luckier shoppers, sporting an enviable number of 15,342 for someone of her age. A permanent crease had formed in the…
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Sasha finished teaching Economics at the University around 4:30 PM. This gave him fifteen minutes to get home and strain the spaghetti for his brother, Sal, who around this time of day was usually asleep or lazily watching reruns of Jeopardy. At the University, there had recently been talks of trouble going on with the…
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1. While in their little country, I had my peaceful sojourn in the home of the Prophet. We were up in the mountains, and the main building on the estate was being used as a spiritual retreat. The meeting hall was spacious and covered with cushions and pillows, with windows taking up most of the…
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I hate working the night shift at the morgue because corpses won’t leave me alone. The human brain can still “think” for five to seven days after death, given a temperature range of 35-48 degrees Fahrenheit and assuming there has been no significant head trauma. Post-mortem brain waves were discovered 12 years ago, but it took…
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Mind controlled husks of humans surround me. Consumed with the imaginary world, reality exists differently for each individual. People communicate through intangible means. Everyone is stuck in their own mind; they don’t notice those around them. Even now, when I cry, no one sees my tears because they’re not looking. Neither am I. I’m led…
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