Category Archives: John Wentworth Chapin

The coffin-sized pit in his basement wasn’t freshly dug. “If I was burying Cub Scouts, I wouldn’t have let you down here,” he joked, his voice thin. It was pretty logical, but I was too creeped out for logic. Six … Continue reading →

Pop-pop and Lily were in the garden again. His hands were knobby and mottled, ugly things, but she took them without hesitation when he offered them to lift her out of the dirt or onto his knee, setting her there … Continue reading →

“Dammit, I am good at what I do,” Evie slurred, overly loud. Her wings ached. “You got one job and you do it, Evie. You do it good, the hive thrives. You do it bad, we all die. You want … Continue reading →

When he was seven, he and his four-year-old brother hunted raspberries in the ravine. They found an old abandoned refrigerator covered in brambles. He continued filling his coffee can with blood-red berries, maneuvering carefully around thorns, eating any over-ripe fruit. … Continue reading →

I knew Courtney Love was hot even before she finally brushed her hair and took a shower sometime after Kurt Cobain shot himself. One look at that mouth and you know she gives kickass head when she’s not passed out … Continue reading →

Steven blurts it out: he cheated on her, broke into the lab, time-travelled back, fixed it. Technically, no cheating… they wouldn’t even know he broke in at work. Now it is all fine…except his conscience: fancy dinner and confession. “You’re … Continue reading →

I. It’s blistering hot on the balcony, and everyone’s trashed, including you. They’ll be hooking up, puking, passing out, fighting, talking about old cartoons, crying, the whole human drama. The only way you can sort everyone out is Monday morning: … Continue reading →

“You gonna eat?” she asks. They pick crabs alone at a wooden picnic table at the end of a pier. Some inept guy with a double outboard tries a third time to back up to the dock beside them. “No … Continue reading →

“Barbie stood naked before the throng, facing all defiantly,” the Narratrix intoned. The crowd of men jeered: a green Power Ranger, a handful of Pokémon, two Batmen, and Bob the Builder, behind them a seething mass of African Safari animals … Continue reading →

Uncle Allen came to live with him for a short while, between retirement and nursing home. Allen would stroll the remains of the orchard, reminiscing with Tad, flirting with dementia. One row held a decrepit peach which yielded a host … Continue reading →

I hear the undying screams of the children outside. The pitch never rises or falls; as one voice falls silent, another joins in. This persistent caterwauling threatens my resolve, but I am determined. I have worked it out carefully, mulling … Continue reading →

Sundown on a resort balcony; lazy waves purred below. “You don’t believe in fate? Still?” Sand dusted the tops of Sam’s feet which rested on the railing. “We found each other, sure, against all odds.” Ty chewed on a gin-soaked … Continue reading →

Even if… we wake up in a hell of misery                       lies tucked behind easier lies                       bankruptcy                       tumors rattling or a hell of comfort                       rusted water heater                       cataracts                       working late or the hell of others                       the sour waft of a secret … Continue reading →

Seven empty wine bottles huddled on the coffee table. “URGENT,” I said to my brother. He stared blankly at me. “URGENT,” I repeated. You can’t say more in Password. “I heard you,” he snapped. He stared at the burgundy dregs … Continue reading →

Gladys was looking through the peephole in her front door when the bell rang a second time. It was a beagle. She cracked the door and shouted Shoo! The dog thumped his tail. “Please help me. I’m lost.” “Go away.” … Continue reading →

The hunched woman brushed her gray hair and wrinkled her nose. She muttered loudly, “I’m glad they put the wall up. When it gets a little humid around here, I can smell those damn people.” “No, you can’t, Mama,” Linda … Continue reading →

  At my niece’s Christmas pageant they had two dogs on stage, one dressed as a cow and the other as a donkey. That’s when I had the idea for a pageant for my obedience school at spring graduation, the … Continue reading →

The Ancestors confront The Writer. “Why do you write filth?” they howl – the very timbers quake. The Writer drinks in their longcoats, sabers, powdered hair. It’s not… well, not all filth. “April 12, 1986!” thunders a corseted woman with … Continue reading →

The boat crashed into the concrete bank and the little boy shrieked, delighted: “Do it again!” His father tried to put it in reverse with the remote, but the engine only whined. He directed the boy to turn the boat … Continue reading →

As the closing credits roll for Spinal Tap, I click off the VCR and TV. Bobby is stoned past the point of giggling. He grunts and says, “That’s true, you know, what they said about the drummer and spontaneous combustion.” … Continue reading →

It was that first sip of bourbon that brought on the calm. Yes, she drank every night, and no, she didn’t have more than two except for the occasional festive or depressed night. Yes, she drank alone, and no, she … Continue reading →

Taped to the front door in an envelope: Dear Justin, This morning, you missed your schoolbus for the third time this fall. Dr Pruitt agrees with me that it’s time for something called Tough Love. This Tough Love contract will … Continue reading →

Darlene’s dad had sent her down here from the county to keep her from the drugs and the pregnancies that had trapped her older sisters. She missed him, but there wasn’t really a place for her there anymore, and that … Continue reading →

We decide not to go to the emergency room; explaining what happened would be beyond embarrassing. Once the blood stops gushing from my mouth and the pain subsides, we have a good laugh about it. It looks like domestic violence, … Continue reading →

He lay on his side for a moment, catching his breath, assessing the damage to his body and the small sitting area next to his bed. He didn’t have a real living room anymore; he’d had to select one piece … Continue reading →

“We never know what you’re saying to us,” she says. I laugh, because this should be funny, but it’s not. “What a pleasure to know that my pearls of wisdom fall on deaf ears,” I say. “Like that,” she says. … Continue reading →

This is what they say about my hair: Brillo. Jew-fro. Nigger wool. Seriously, people: nigger wool. Nice, right? Buncha fuckin low-lifes, right? No, I’m not at the junior high bus stop. I’m at the dining room table with my parents. … Continue reading →

They all held Christmas back in Pemberton. Only old Mick Turner and FJ – one of the middle sons – still lived in Pemberton, but the far-flung Turner boys and their broods descended upon Pemberton like locusts. The clan had … Continue reading →

. The ancient cemetery was reported to have been the site of an impromptu vandalism party; police said that every stone had been felled. A geologist from Hopkins said it was likely that some toppled in the storm; the serpentine … Continue reading →

Her bleached hair pulled into a dark-rooted ponytail, the girl in pajama bottoms pushes a stroller over a patch of brown weeds in the sidewalk and shouts upward, head tilting slightly, the arc of her invective presumably aimed at the … Continue reading →

“You’d want me to tell you, right?”  I pause. “Of course.” This is a polite lie; I haven’t made up my mind. “Good friends have to be brutally honest, because no one else will. Tell me.” I ponder the differences … Continue reading →

I dropped my infant brother on his head, and although he screamed for two hours, I didn’t tell anyone; the lump went away before anyone came home.  I rifled through the bedside table until I found dirty magazines; I masturbated … Continue reading →

“And I love the National Gallery. I was there two – no, three months ago – and the guy I was with knows a curator, so we got a special tour of works that aren’t on display. They were being … Continue reading →

you scared the shit out of me, knocking on my back door like that while i washed dishes at the sink in my ratty camo boxers and sipped discount boxed chablis, looking out the window at the black december night … Continue reading →

“I said, what’s your lucky number, babe?” the drunk guy at the counter says, again. I’m casing the place; my boyfriend Jimmy is about to bust in and rob the store. I’m pretending to be looking at puckered hot dogs … Continue reading →

Jocelyn has always been a special child, and that’s just the way it’s always been. Other children fidget, cry, stamp their feet, get runny noses – but not Jocelyn. Pageant kids are usually better behaved than the non-pageant variety, of … Continue reading →

“Something’s got to give,” she croaks, slouching on the other chair in my small office. “I can’t take on any more work.” She is my boss. I glance at my computer screen as email notifications pop up. They are too … Continue reading →

While you sleep, I wait for you to die. These months, all these months! They wear on me. I don’t want you to die – you must know that. I don’t even fucking believe in God, but I pray just … Continue reading →

I have been planning this vacation for months. I’ve heard people say that New York City is the gayest place in the world, and I can’t wait! I don’t think I’ve ever put this much into plans before – hotel, … Continue reading →

The droning of the ventilation system agitates him. He feels clammy: cold and yet sticky with sweat. He tries sleeping on his left side; when he rolls over, a small sigh escapes her lips. “Are you awake?” he whispers, squinting … Continue reading →

Thomas walked out of the emergency room and around to the main door of the hospital, a spring in his step. He rode the elevator to the seventh floor alone, a familiar path. His arms still itched, despite the Benadryl … Continue reading →

Stranded. They tried to figure out what would spoil first and eat that. The ground beef was already warm, but they were beyond the point of caring about taste. They ate small, cautious bites at first. She said it tasted … Continue reading →

The invisible line reached over and tickled Eddie, taunted him. Eddie could stand it no longer and poked Thomas’ knee. When he moved it, Eddie poked his elbow. “MOM! Eddie’s on my side.” “Eddie.” “He was saying mean stuff!” “I … Continue reading →

He sniffed the air. “Somebody’s been smoking in my car,” he said. The increasingly furrowed lines on his forehead made her stomach clench. He shook his head in disbelief. “I am going to try to keep it together, but…damnit! In … Continue reading →

Angela knew the sensation she caused as she approached Jeanne’s casket carrying a white rose; it would agonize everyone at the gravesite to watch the identical twin approach. The girls had always been together, from moments after conception and first … Continue reading →

He tossed the sopping, warm facecloth in the corner by the shower of the hotel bathroom. The discarded towel nearly glowed against the subdued khaki of the tub and tile; it was wet, but the plush loops of absorbent goodness … Continue reading →

Hot summer night, heat steaming off the asphalt and crushed beer bottles outside the bar. A buzzing crowd of men cluttered the sidewalk in front of the bar entrance; he expected as much. The guys liked to wind down with … Continue reading →

The sun hammered the blue and white umbrella; she gauged the sun coming through the white stripes and guessed that she could burn under that brutality. If white t-shirts are only an SPF of 8, she couldn’t even imagine what … Continue reading →

He glared at his sister before tossing his cigarette butt to the forest floor, grinding it into the pine needles with a well-worn shoe greatly in need of repair. “You stupid fucking twat,” he muttered. “How is this my fault?” … Continue reading →

“Global horseshit is what it is,” she said at the television newscaster, pressing ice cubes down into her glass of chardonnay which was freshly poured from the sweating magnum beside her, seven more like it chilling in the fridge out … Continue reading →

On the fourth attempt, Viktor judged the bowtie properly tied: red Italian silk, small and rectangular rather the ridiculous black nylon butterfly the others would wear. *** He parked several blocks away and watched from the shadows as PJ came … Continue reading →

Rough Cut by John Wentworth Chapin Cut jakfruit sits on the tin table. The flesh is pale yellow and rubbery, cadaver labia. He shakes his head, wrinkles his nose. She chooses a breadfruit instead. “Del,” she says, slicing off the … Continue reading →