Sgment 13.3

The address was right but it struck Wyatt as peculiar. Why would a grocery store request a food delivery to the premises? Sure, the bodega was small but even places such as these had their own delivery systems.
“Hello?” Wyatt called as he opened the door. “Someone call for a delivery?”
The clerk at the counter snorted, [...]

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Segment 12.3

Clothing drifted away, taking with it the smells of the hospital. A shower and a fresh set of duds would set the world back on the path to a bearable semblance of normalcy. Just slipping into a favorite pair of gel sandals could make troubles seem distant and tiny.
Raisa clutched a towel to herself as [...]

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Segment 12.1

The other side of the street, just a few feet away, could have been another country.
“And me without a passport,” Sydney muttered, his hands resting on his hips.
Crossing the street into the Court could put him back into the city lock-up for violating his restraining order. Anyone thinking the police had better things to [...]

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Segment 10.6

Piece by piece, he took back his life, from his belt to his wallet to his expensive suit. With each movement, he muttered his thanks to the ex-roommate who’d had made it possible. It was barely noon when he emerged again into the sunlight, taking in the fresh, salty air. He stretched out his arms [...]

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Segment 10.3

If only the she had asked for the wallet too, there would be no need to negotiate for a loan from a staff member. If only Rex had come by for a ride home, there would be no need to move on to begging for a lift. If only the irascible Oscar hadn’t offended the [...]

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Segment 9.9

Every minute in the cell made it smaller. The man with the Bible seemed to be almost pressed up against him, even though he was on his own bunk, scribbling notes in the margins. Sydney’s skin crawled.
His cellmate grunted. “I told you, brother. No lawyer worth his license will take up a loser like one [...]

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Segment 9.6

Usually the waves, the sand, and the sun dominated the view. Sometimes they were blocked out by an especially fetching woman in a particularly flattering arrangement of fabric. This morning, the garbage intruded on all that. Rex Magotti groaned and considered the long expanse of wrappers and bottles and cast-off diapers and condoms. He raised [...]

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Segment 8.10

Before the memories resurfaced, Oscar wondered why his wife had redecorated. As always, a slow burn of anger churned at him with the knowledge that she had messed up again. She was hopeless.
Then he sat up and realized he was stashed behind a curtain in a hospital bed, still fully dressed but without his shoes. [...]

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Segment 8.6

Fifteen minutes. No time for catching up on the several years since they’d spoken. No time for tracking down a more recent phone number if this one didn’t work. The guard kept tapping his watch and Sydney waved back at him. He spoke fast when he got his old roomie on the phone.
“I can’t talk [...]

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Segment 7.7

At first, the hollering was indistinct, just a muffled echo along the already noisy halls of the hospital, blended in with the normal warbles of the announcements and the beeps and hums of machinery. As Raisa drifted closer to the ER entrance, a heavy industrial floor waxer ground out the words. She had come into [...]

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