Contents
Holding Together, from Boulevard
Black and Tan (formerly “Going to the Dogs”), from The Atlantic Monthly
Customs of the Country (revised), from Harper’s Magazine
Finding Natasha, from Antaeus and Louder Than Words
Dragon’s Seed, from Boulevard
Barking Man, from The Northern Review
Petit Cachou
Witness, from Harper’s Magazine
Move On Up
Mr. Potatoehead In Love, broadcast on National Public Radio
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“Mr. Thracewell, my brother Alfred,” Big Brother said.
“Alf, fetch Mr. Thracewell a gin and French.”
He passed Alf an empty glass and leaned to whisper in his ear,
“Jesus Christ, your tie’s not straight.”
As Alf receded into the hallway,
he thought he heard the murmured invocation London School of Economics,
and he swallowed against that plauguey roughness in his gullet.
The kitchen was empty and he snatched up the gin bottle,
carried it into the pantry and shut the door after him.
With the bottle upended over his jaws,
he squinted up at its butt until he saw four bubbles rise,
then lowered it and gasped.
Gin and French?
He sniffed the glass the Beeb had given him, but the scent was unenlightening.
He fixed a gin and tonic with a lot of ice and headed back toward the front of the flat.
En route he toppled a tower of bowler hats from the hall stand,
made an abortive move to gather them, then decided to let them lie.
Deep in conversation with Big Brother,
Thracewell took the drink unconsciously and tasted it without looking.
Alf watched his mouth shrivel to the surface of the glass,
and at that very instant the vast bubbles of gin he’d swallowed burst inside him with a soft explosion.
“iirrrfffooorrrffffaaarrrROOOOORF OOOO OOOO!!!” he howled.
All around the room he could hear vertebrae popping with the speed of the turning heads.
“Your younger brother is this, you say?” Mr. Thracewell murmured.
“My word, a most original chap.”
(Madison Smartt Bell, “Barking Man”, p. 105)
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Madison Smartt Bell (photograph by Craig Daniels)