Chapter 2
I grew up in a world where everything that happened was the will of God, where from the way the wind blew to the price of bread was a measure of God’s divine favor or disfavor, and though that may seem to you in some sense a naïve worldview, with holiness, the creator of [...]

What is This, Really?
New Year’s came and went. Claire invited me to a party with some friends of hers. I was nervous. It seemed like a big deal. I kind of assumed there’d be drinking or the like. So I showed up, thinking big things were afoot, but her parents were there. We played board [...]

The next day, Saturday the 30th, he awoke much later than usual, feeling drugged. His eyes were heavy, his shoulders sluggish with the anaesthesia of sleep. His first thought was of her, and he put his robe on and went into the hallway. The apartment was silent. He called her name, but there was no [...]

Dr. Chips
Penelope stayed at the store until the end. She wrote Dr. Chips on the invoice. Dave was excited that a doctor bought a waterbed.
“I gave him a bunch of our cards,” he said. “With a doctor out there stumping for us, we’re gonna get some business. We’ll get out of the hole [...]

“Well, look at you!” called Steve. “Don’t you look gorgeous!”
Elektra raised her arms, she had a small black purse on a long strap in her hand, and she did a twirl as she crossed the lamplit street, her red and black dress flying around her and then settling on her figure as she strode toward [...]

Part II:
Hawa
Prepared then, and disposed as I was by the discourse of my companions, and Phoebe’s minute detail of everything, no wonder that such a sight gave the last dying blow to my native innocence.
—John Cleland, The Memoirs of Fanny Hill
Chapter 1
I was born on one of those Arkansas August nights that literally sticks to [...]

That night when Lisel returned to the apartment, she found Mr. Entrater upstairs, painting.

The sign on the side of the highway reads, in painted red lettering: THE HIVE. IN OLD SEARCY. ALL ARE WELCOME.

Miss Evans came around to the front of the porch, put one foot on the first porch step, but hesitated.

“You’ll be done in a little while on this one,” Penelope said.