DEFYxxNORMALITY

“It’s not that she’s not smart. She’s very bright – I’d say she’s the top of her class.” The words came muffled through the wall, which was painted nursery school yellow. I knew only too well that the other side, the side where The Meeting was happening, was light blue. Light blue because it was supposed to make students calm. I swung my feet against the legs of the bench. The bottoms of my sneakers scuffed the floor and squeaked rhythmically. The lady at the desk shot me a look that told me to stop that awful noise right now, please. Our eyes met and I saw how much she hated her job. I kept kic

 “So what’s wrong with me?” Jennifer asked as she adjusted the cuffs of her blazer. “It’s quite common. Happens to a lot of women your age.” The doctor fiddled with his glasses on the bridge of his nose, then took them off. “Easily treatable, too.” “Great. Do I pick up my prescription with your secretary?” “Well, no.” “Okay?” “Not medicably treatable. You’ve lost your soul.” Jennifer stopped searching through her handbag. “Excuse me?” “Your soul. Like I said, pretty common. Nothing out of the ordinary. You’ve pr

Men. Men with guns. Why not? Two of them, two men, and in keeping with my usual themes they'll be brothers. The older of the two, that's Jack—and while we're on the subject, the younger one's Lawrence. God, just looking at them, you're reminded—they're the kind of people who can remind you—of what the difference is between the merely good-looking and the truly beautiful, between those of us who are fine to look at and those of us who are fine the same way a masterpiece is fine. These two men, our brothers, are really and truly handsome, so handsome it's almost painful sometimes to look at them. You see them out of the corner of your eye in t

Master of Ravens 1 My little brother is nine years old the first time I decide to kill him. During the night, snow fell over the jagged wreckage of our land. In the morning I realize he will follow me outside if I call to him. Like an awkward-limbed colt he'll stumble through the snowdrifts, and I can leave him to the ice and wind in the shadow of a three-walled building. No one will see me. Our father will think he has gotten lost on his own. I too will cry when they find his body. When the mourning is done, however, I will be my father's true and only son. 'Cam,' he will call to me, and I'll kneel down before him. My father. Master of