She had to take a Lyft home from work and though her driver has been very talkative, he thankfully keeps the conversation light and uncontroversial. He talks about the history of the Manhattan Bridge, the owl that has recently escaped from Central Park Zoo, and the necessary danger of space heaters. She is nearly home…

He was moments away from cracking the Sudoku puzzle on his phone when the bodies standing in front of him parted to reveal a man not much older than himself pushing a walker. He knew that everyone on the crowded train was looking at him now, waiting for him to stand up and offer the…

If she had never seen someone sniffing cocaine before, she would not know what the woman in first class was doing. The French tipped pinky nail lingering a moment too long right below her pink nostril, the heaving inhale followed by sharp sniffs, the refusal to look anyone in the eye as she brought her…

She was waiting in a poorly formed line at the gate for her turn to board she overheard a man waking through the terminal say into his phone: When I left this airport last week I had a mother. When I arrived at this airport this week I no longer had a mother. There must…

The blood smear on the street was visible from my second floor window the way swimming pools are visible from an airplane. At a time of year when the only other vibrant colors came from intentionally placed Christmas lights, it was easy to spot. And the more I looked, I could see nuanced tones of…

When he hears the bad news, he pulls the collar of his sweatshirt up over his head and repeats the word “no” several times. I look at the headless being and wonder if he thinks that when he comes out of his sweatshirt, this will have all been something that never happened. Could he erase…

At a certain hour in the evening if you are walking west on Church Avenue, the setting sun will be right in your eyes and will make people walking east on Church Avenue appear as just legs. Just legs coming toward you, silhouetted by bright orange light. You might stop and gasp because you have…