He Like a Good Steak Todd Loudin owned a lot of places and people in Sin City. The people owed him favors; the places owed him nothing. The people sometimes ended up hurt; the places were infamous. He liked a good steak and no place proved better than the Silver Steer. Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack ate here, the King of Rock and Roll held court, and Natalie Wood bought her own velvet touch.…
Don’t Give Up Now The pain in her arm became intense, but she took some comfort in the news Wallace offered. She might confront the man responsible for her dad’s death. What would she do? The terror began to rise from the pit of her stomach. Was she prepared to kill him? The idea seemed remote until now. She had enjoyed thing about how she would take care of Todd. The thinking and plotting revenge made her…
He jumped on the Southwest Chief as it picked up speed at the Alvarado Transportation Center. The porter swung him into the car and waved to the engineer to aim the train to Los Angeles. He wandered past the seats, swiped a blanket from a baby carriage, and slid into an empty row. He pulled the blanket up to his neck and watched the mesquite trees out the window until he fell asleep. When he…
This is a short story about a group of people at a settlement conference: a sort of preliminary attempt to close out a lawsuit before a trial. Most of the settlement’s are managed by previous judges, so they know what will fly in front of a jury, and what won’t fly.
Cranberry Juice The emergency room at the county hospital seemed too busy for a Tuesday morning. Tucked in every corner sat screaming babies with frantic mothers, homeless suffering from the heat, foreigners nursing hangovers, and Cindy with a gunshot in her arm. She sat in the middle of a bed pushed into the hallway with her legs dangling over the edge. A gauze pad with a red circle of blood covered her arm. This part…
At midnight, Charlie woke the only human in his life, the one who fed him, kept him in water, and let him lead them on an romp past the marigolds on the corner every day at three, with a long howl. It bubbled up from below his belly somewhere near his tail and felt more like an itch in a space he couldn’t reach with his nose. A long, frightful howl, which made even Charlie…
I started writing again as an exercise for my hands and my brain. For many months after my stroke, I couldn’t hand write my letters, let alone type. I spent many hours tracing the shapes of letters with my right hand. It took awhile because my brain failed to move my hand. Anyway, I practiced like a child and hoped for the best. All of this went on as I tried to get my world…
Paramedics wheeled Charlie out of the club through the mess of wires, broken glass, and water. A medic taped gauze on Cindy’s arm where a bullet broke the skin leaving a bleeding gash. Cuts and scratches covered her legs. “He’s going to live,” Wallace said. “How he didn’t die is anybody’s guess.” How they all survived, nobody could tell. A flash of gunpowder played again in Cindy’s mind as the bullet sent a cascade of water over Bill’s…
The room grew darker with the night as the sun set behind the windows throwing shadows on the wall of books. A sign on the center door warned it should never be opened. He wondered about the door for a moment then turned the page. His reading went on for a few hours until only a candle lit up the room. He pushed his hands back to stretch. From the door came what he thought…
Todd Loudin heard the shots below his office. They sounded close. He cocked his head to listen. Two more shots and screaming. He rushed to the window. A man dressed in all black ran away from the Glitter Gulch. Behind him, a half-dressed girl flailed on the ground with a hole in her leg. Another girl wearing only a bikini tried to help her. Green bills blew out of a broken grocery bag. A couple bills stuck…