Stories from all categories
A bar in Berlin. I am greeted by a dog. "Na hallöchen! ('little hello') Wer bist denn du?" He is wiry and rough-haired and nuzzles my bag, clearly scenting the traces of Another Dog on ...read more
Walking down the street in the wake of three blokes as confident as three galleons. Their coats blow open. It's a fresh sunny day. Something small flies off to the side & I follow it ...read more
Accidentally went into a restaurant for dinner in which I realized too late all the men were wearing suits. I tore off my two layers of wool, hot from walking, and sat there in very ...read more
"Aw!" 'What?' "Aw just... somebody's torn this little plant out, and now it's gunna die." I could hear my surprised, injured tone of voice, high like a disappointed child. My friend stopped and I had ...read more
Walking home down rainy streets my last night in this house. Tomorrow unnest, budge myself, nudge, shift. Winter has landed with its big wings. Now the warmth of the indoors folds us in, the subway's ...read more
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I know an eighty-year-old cafe where the day passes smooth and coiling as molasses poured out of a dented tin. I sit in the smokers' room, not because I smoke but because of the candlelight ...read more
Tonight I saw a man pull over in his shiny red car - more small round bubble than lippy convertible - leave the car running in the empty lane of traffic, as Berliners sometimes do, ...read more
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In an unpretentious Italian restaurant where all the pasta had been made by hand, the chatting-family atmosphere fell into something much deeper and richer and darker. A cellist had walked in and in his overcoat ...read more
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Today my hair kept tangling in the buttons at the back of my coat. I spent a long time standing in doorways or under trees, thoughtfully fishing there with my fingers, dreamily, gingerly unwinding. I've been ...read more