I was hesitant at first, but dating a ghost had a lot of upsides. Jared would sneak off into other apartments and tell us exactly what the other neighbours were doing. Whenever either of us were upset with a co-worker, Jared would agree to haunt them for the evening.
Read MoreMy manager never likes to tell me what to do directly. So I drafted a third memorandum: “As a substitute for periodic sleep and wakefulness, all eligible employees are encouraged to take their sleep time in one lump sum, beginning approximately twenty (20) years from the time of their deaths.”
Read MorePremchand was laying in the grip of a fitful sleep. His mat of banana leaves the only thing separating him from the dirt floor of the garage. The tremulous rise and fall of his potbelly animated by the flickering shadows cast by the firelight. Anjanie bit her lip, fighting back the urge to cry. She knew Premchand was not going to get better. He was going to die.
Cuffed shirt moved to the other end of the bar. Looking at his phone. Maybe she should have given him a chance. Maybe he was a neurosurgeon or a computer engineer. That would be interesting. But who really likes starting conversations with strangers?
“Yes, but,” says Margaret, “what did you do before you became a well-known figure? Before you were interviewed? Everything I have on you is a list of previous public appearances.”
The interviewee sips a warm drink. “I’m an expert at being interviewed.”
“I aks yuh if yuh like man. Yes or no. Yuh like man?” Calvin was trying his best to read the other boy’s face, but it was inscrutable.
A softened candle for a glob of wax to force into his eardrum maybe, to block out the interminable mumblings, murmurings, snacking, lip-smacking, phlegm-thick chortling, and all the shrieking, screeching laughter. His home was no longer his own.
