short read
Fan Fiction
I lived in a basement beneath a French professor and his wife, who taught German at a dying school for girls. When Agnes visited, there was the sharp, joyous smell of new tires. That was the smell the blue vibrator released when cleaned.
We’re Watching the Trees
Millie Anthony is 38. Middle of the night. Lying there in the still bedroom, looking toward the window. A man called Jeff lies beside her. “We’re watching the trees again,” she says.
King of the Wild Frontier
Simply, they were there to play golf. While they were at it, they might stick around to have a meal in the 50s-built white-brick clubhouse or, on a Sunday, to watch the NFL games on the TV in the carpeted area of the men’s locker room after they’d...
The Country’s Newest Tabloid Deals in Miracles
Italy’s former prime minister is a sex criminal, 42 percent of its young people are unemployed, and the country is currently going through its longest recession in 60 years. It would take a miracle to set Italy right, and that’s exactly what the...
This Machine Frees Oppressed Chickens
How do you prove that businesses selling “free range” eggs and chickens don’t treat their birds as kindly as they claim? Get yourself a spy drone, that’s how.
Volunteer-Run Morgues Are a Terrible Idea
Australia’s Northern Territory is huge, sparsely populated, poor, and crawling with deadly animals. It’s not surprising, then, that it doesn’t attract many professional types.