You want strangers to love you?”
He stepped outside to West Tenth Street, happy to return…
Backstage in the wings, Frank Earp was all eyes and…
The kids snapped out of their trances and hurried offstage,…
Jessie sat in the fluorescent gloom of a rocking subway…
Jessie came out on Forty-fifth Street and turned right. Shows…
Tsk, tsk, tsk went the machine as it counted out…
Sorry,” said Rufus. “I didn’t know you had company.”
He sat in the dark, an imperfect dark with a…
A gang of birds whistled and shrieked in the maple…
Hello, Jessica? Sorry to disturb you on your day off,…
The Hudson River raced outside their window, a soft mirror…
The jazzy rhythm of wheels quickened, grew louder, then died…
Mom cleared the table, then brought out the cake, a…
Passive-aggressive be thy middle name,” said Jessie. “What’s she fighting…
Thinking white thoughts, blank thoughts, null thoughts, Henry stared at…
I am not nothing. I am not nothing. I am…
Toby angrily stuffed his uniform into his locker and pulled…
Henry led his pretty American down the stairs to the…
And how did that make you feel?”
Look at these figures, Frank. Oo-hooo! A Monday-morning sell-off. These…
Oh, Frank, thought Jessie as she hung up. She’d said…
Sunlight, brightness, day. Henry had forgotten how bright daylight could…
Once upon a time, Monday nights were dark nights. Every…
You: Hello.
The buzzer loudly buzzed. “It’s me, doll,” Irene sang over…
Hi. Uh. Sorry. A lady was going out as I…
I luf you like a pig lufs mud.”
I am too talented for my own good. What would…
Jessie rode the subway downtown from Columbus Circle. The train…
He climbed deep into her kiss. He pressed her pillows…
Henry Lewse stood on the bright stage of the Booth…
Peach skin. Blond haze. Freckles. The body stretched out before…
Me: Who do you see there?
The rain fell all night. There was rain in her…
Henry flung the door into its frame. The wood and…
You: Let’s talk about success.
Downstairs in the foyer of One Sheridan Square, standing by…
Hello, Henry? Jessie? Somebody? Please! Dolly Hayes again. I’ve been…
Like their namesakes, Leopold and Loeb, the musical couple of…
Hello.”
The sun was up, the sky was blue—the powder blue…
The Vandam Diner was on the ground floor of an…
The city was still dark and glossy with rain as…
Henry had never guessed his assistant was so wiry and…
The bed was piled with naked parts: bottoms, breasts, a…
You: You must know everything.
The audience for Tom and Gerry was in a peculiar…
They were all on television: Allegra, Dwight, Henry Lewse, and…
An alarm began to beep and Jessie woke up.
Kenneth hung up the phone feeling confused. A secretary gave…
Piece of cake,” Henry cheerfully reported in the elevator. “Easy…
What a vile, stupid, shitty day.
Henry Lewse. Wow. I can’t believe I have you on…
He smiled. He twinkled. He scratched his ear. He was…
You love your wife and daughter, don’t you?” said Dr.…
The sun burned low in the hazy sky over the…
Despite the canvas shades, the apartment was not entirely dark…
Applause erupted out front, solid and loud. Backstage in the…
A posterboard sign was taped to the plate glass of…
It’s working, thought Frank. It’s finally working. Or more accurately,…
Irene was right. Most people never arrive at a New…
The elevator arrived and Jessie lead her posse up the…
Caleb stared at the three faces. Or no, four faces,…
So that’s Caleb Doyle, thought Henry as he followed Toby…
When Jessie came out to the terrace, she found Frank…
Kenneth stayed in the bathroom longer than he intended, sitting…
Molly was at the zoo. The animals were having cocktails:…
When the playwright’s mother pulled a gun from her purse,…
Nobody fled the party, but people knew to get out…
Three-thirteen. The clock on the precinct station wall was like…
It’s nothing like the movies, thought Henry. After the big…
The police station remained quiet. It somehow felt both eerie…
The sun rose and the birds sang louder. There was…
Toby woke up in his room on West 104th Street.