Bob

Junk

by

Bob Fenhagen

Contact: rfenhagen@yahoo.com

“What’d you find?”

“Nothing. A lottery ticket.”

“Throw it away with the rest. We’ve got a car to smash.”

The junk yard took up three full city blocks in Newark, New Jersey. People brought

their previously beloved vehicles that, over time, had morphed into useless junk, only to

sell for scrap and a hundred bucks.

Tony Golofino was about to toss the apparently unclaimed ticket, but as it looked brand

new, instead of tossing, he stuck it in his filthy baggy green pants pocket….

Francesca

My cat strolled over and curled up on my chest. As I laid there thinking I started to hear something- two heartbeats, two breaths. His heart beat twice as fast, every other beat resounding with mine, our breaths synced. My cat and I cuddled together under blankets and night, breathing and beating as one. He wasn’t a cat curled on my chest, he was my son. The peace that night brought my heart showed me what love was.

Lisa

“I’m 58 years old and I have a disability. I can’t pay my electruc bill and the cumpny’s gonna cut it off. Plus I just had surgery and got no gifts for my three kids and it’s cold in here. I was told to call this number.”
“You can call Catholic Charities.”
“How do you spell that?”
“Just write church.”
“Okay. And the number? Go slow one number at a time…And what can I git my kids?”
“An education.”

BrainScratch

The Pioneer left behind the fears of his people, years of reluctance, and the advent of regrets inside a splinter ridden drawer in his humble hovel. He armed himself with two shirts, a prayer, his peon's vocation, a lifetime of memories and a thirst for new opportunity. The calescent sun abrades his skin and feeds his tenacious spirit, but his inertia stops and the voice of foreign commands and wailing sirens follow.

Kimberly

The fog smothers downtown London and I cut through it like a dull knife to leather. I stumble down a sidewalk, black mascara tears marring my already grimy face. I stop and take off my now broken heels. I slump under the weight of my invisible burden, my mourning dress riding up, and think,”I’m here for a funeral for a man who is supposed to be my father. Why don’t I know him?”

Maggie

I opened my front door this morning and there was a black cat on my stoop. “What do I do?” I said to the cat. “Meow,” the cat said. “I have to go to work,” I said, “And this is the city. I can’t just rescue you, you know. ” “Meow. Meow,” the cat said. My boyfriend came up behind me. I could smell his morning breath which I secretly loved. “Try the neighbors down the street,” I said to the cat. And he was gone.

Jeanne

Twirling the olive in her martini, Sunny looked past the clutch of clean shaven frat boys blocking her view of the girl band taking the stage to focus on the runway thin blonde in a tight black mini dress, her appetizer for the evening.

Su

At the reunion my ex and I went to the balcony to catch up. She told me this joke. “At the start of marriage you have hearts and diamonds, but at the end all you need is a club and a spade.” I laughed. She must still be single, I thought, but then I was surprised when she told me she had remarried. “So,” I asked, “who do you plan to use the club on?” That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the E.R.

William

The earth where you dug wasn’t frozen but it was rocky & you needed a pick. The hole’s edges aren’t square. In the hole lies a small box that you built & the box’s edges aren’t square either. The box holds a letter because that’s all you have to place in it. The letter says “I’m sorry. Goodbye.”

Back inside, you sit on the floor, playing dress-up. You love both your children but only one leaves glitter in your beard.

Jan

In a room with no air a gray man talks about scripture, soloists, a casket spray. The word spray roars in my head. Spray like soaked my breasts that night. Spray like droplets on the Dangerous Riptides sign noticed too late. I leaned on that sign as I waited for the cops. Sobbing, shivering, tasting salt, I hoped for your sake it was quick. Quick as the water took my shirt you tried to save.

norman

H. i have my passport though they can't verify who i am from what you've told them i'm just an image they must detain fitting more their profile than their courage to refuse offerings sanctioned in swiss accounts lust guards with a passion always asking do I know you have a password admitting you're a user while i am a familiar getting on board a stranger

norman

G. even now skirting airport security i am convinced you're looking out over sunglasses is more than a bit shady as you block your lips as you lean over towards the guard's ear have you also removed his heart as you are entrusted with some secret as dear as the victims you've no doubt set up to carry your love drugs who else have you bribed to take my confession as an unfaithful gospel

norman

F. how did you arrive before i did pleasure written on your tee shirt in liquid glitter aren't you suppose to show less conspicuous you've been my shadow keeping me from knowing i murdered myself left behind in suitcases your personal belongings evidence i was not coming back as guilty as you you spy

norman

E. i knew i was adolescent to have accepted i could go back to a history smothered in woman's nuturing i did more than know what i felt was my own hand in my pocket reaching for a device to see the future was my eyes in the back of my head attempting to find the exit into eleation's veglan gardens

norman

D. i combed my hair coming back with a smile she recognized from a mile high she offered me a drink i refused to except she was paying me off with just one treat when she had so many others she whispered in my ear she was coming down with me in greece if i had any trouble finding a place to sleep she was the one hope for a fantasy tour before the classic ruins

norman

C. this time I was assigned a seat beside you so very much like someone I might find allowing me to sit beside the window since they 'd already looked down on this journey from such a height they knew they weren't safe they weren't tourist and they weren't worried i'd keep disturbing them to go exit to drop a load in the bathroom I went anyway as the stewardess had asked to see no one looking ugly

norman

B. we land in alternate destinations we make friends leaving us some staying with their children some we offer cookies we were saving for our brain's craving to satisfy anxiety we were as hungry as our imagination walking through rainbow candy futures thoughts on the sweet side lollipops offer to round faces or skinny orphans some of us picked up where we left off was a hub not a terminal injunction

norman

A. the present asked to excuse the past in the past so today i ask you're excuses for tomorrow i'll leave by the blame my heaviest luggage as i take flight not to run instead to uplift even with people i never met yet trust they will arrive as safe as I do without having to navigate anything more than paying the proper passage to those who have studied charting time in the future is propelled by will to craft

Donald

A grey cold seeps below both skin and bone. No words have passed, yet he’s thought of little else—such awful words for an end. Friends counsel patience, but what do they know? Instead, he travels to where she might be, searching. Her parents, her friends, they offer no help or relief. Their eyes reflect his selfishness. In the park, by where they met, she turns from him. “I'm sorry,” he says, but she is not there.

James

Dear, the download triggered - I was distracted - and the fantasy enveloped me like a sleeve. Pop. Just like that. After all the prep, the warnings. No more me. What will I be like? How will I treat you? I’ve always wondered what would happen if. And now -- I hope I treat you decently. I hope I at least acknowledge you. Will you recognize my genuine love for you? Will it show? I am so, so sorry.