LOBSTER ICE CREAM A tragicomedy in two acts Act One, Scene One Upstage right, Jude Wintermilk sits hunched over a desk lit by a small lamp in an otherwise dark bedroom. While threading a blank sheet of paper into his thrift store typewriter—a barely functioning antique acquired for its twee appeal—he begins thinking out loud […]
Unlike Percy who grew up in a small town west of Grey Grove, Ontario, Bash was a ‘lifer’. The midsized city was home to four major penitentiaries, so long-term residents were called lifers. His parents owned and operated Ashbarrow Drugs, an independent pharmacy in the downtown core, established during the first year of their marriage. […]
Percy Flage was her stage name. Not that she ever stepped foot on an actual stage during her brief career as a therapy clown. Strictly speaking, stages, spotlights, curtains, and everything else used in theatrical productions weren’t part of her performances. Concrete floors, fluorescent lights, beeping medical machines, and extras in the form of nurses […]
They met at the pharmacy next to the theatre—her in a colourful ensemble, him in all black. He was a lighting director on dinner break, in search of a new ballpoint pen, and she was a therapy clown, fresh off a shift at the hospital. If he hadn’t been staring at his phone, he would’ve […]
I saw a child on the nightly news Playing with a toy inside a room being used As a shelter from The Bomb’s long burning fuse The mother was there being interviewed ‘Cause war had broken out all over the place And when the microphone tilted toward her face She spoke about the future of […]
To Andy Campbell, ex-friend, liar, backstabber, and deceiver, Congratulations, leaving my night vision binoculars at the scene of YOUR crime was a pretty clever thing to do. I’m guessing you figured my fingerprints would seal the deal, but how did you know about my arrest back when I was a stupid kid? I never said […]
It took him much longer than expected to write his letter…
When the hood was popped up, I stood there for a bit, beyond the reach of his eyes, wondering about preeminent metanarratives like religion and science, and how they attempted to explain the human condition…
After tossing the X-rated comic book onto the floor of the car…
In the bridge beams, a new generation of swallows tended to their nests, as he knelt down on the jut of a rock and dunked his head into the murk of the creek…
tin hats 