Fast Forward
What I Say To Myself
It was like this: Tony D. tripped me when I was going in for an easy lay-up, real easy, no one there at all, nothing but open court, nothing but daylight, and I could already picture it happening—the last few dribbles and the jumping off the left foot and the rising up like a bird I don’t know the name of...
Prosthesis
I never asked what happened. It was gone before I was born, so I never missed it. I didn’t give it another thought until I was in school and mentioned it to Jerry Wallace. The look on his face was a gift. Then I told everybody. Kids I didn’t know asked, “Does your daddy really have a wooden leg?”
From This
You breathe so hard you can’t yell for help. You’re running up the apartment building’s outside stairs with his shadow following one flight below you. The lanyard around your neck tap, taps in time with your cherry red Candies’ flip-flops slapping the soles of your feet.
A Mile Off The Highway
We know which country stores sell us booze and leave illuminated under the cracked, neon crown of RC Cola. We drink the collective whiskey like communion wine and smoke the last of our parents’ cigarettes.
