The dog entered on the south east end of the Experience just as the evening show was starting overhead. Little knots of people, t-shirts clinging to their backs, gazed up at the LED lights, not noticing the dog as it slipped between them, tacking back and forth up the Strip. Darryl caught the dog on monitor 05 as it crossed into the camera's field of view. The dog had its eyes on the people, alert for danger, watching the families - for someone it recognized, maybe, or just on the lookout to avoid potential threats. Children, cops, all unpredictable. Check... Continue reading

After you leave me I clean out the fridge and think about someone else to fuck. Old collapsing peppers, a carton of mold, an order of szechuan beef that tasted of heat and sugar. Someone's out there, someone on whom I can unleash the tired months, the framed Klimt poster, the little midden of shoes in the hallway. The poster is gone. The cheese is pumpkin orange and the texture of paraffin. I pinch off a crumbled little corner and run it over my tongue. After you leave me I move through the apartment, plucking out everything that marked our... Continue reading

Glass by glass, Benny Ostrogoth was reversing his position on drunk women. “I dunno,” the drunk woman said, her head dipping briefly down to the bartop, “You’re funny – and kind of cute?” “Kind of, yes,” agreed Benny. He made a circular motion over the bar with his index finger, the universal sign for two more of the same. Drunk women, Benny was coming to realize, formed a vital part of any bar’s ecosystem. They took in desperation and, by an invisible chemical conjunction, emitted a faint aerosol of hope. Eventually they would wear away – and sometimes the reaction... Continue reading