400 Words


Compulsions

What can you not not do, even when you’d like to stop?

Book Reader

by Maureen—Age 23—New Haven, CT Five weeks into my third semester at my second attempt at college, I padded down three flights of stairs on a Sunday morning in my slippers and PJs. In one hand I carried a coffee press, full and hot, as well as a coffee mug with a carton of half-and-half [...]

Folding Corners

by Shya—Age 30—New York City I do this thing my friends call “folding corners.” I didn’t name it. It’s when I take a piece of fabric, usually the edge of a sleeve or that lovely little stitching right where a zipper is sewn on to the coat, or maybe even, OK, I’ll take the tip [...]

She

by Sara — Age 86 — Cornwall, CT My mother-in-law, a short, wiry bundle of energy with prematurely gray hair, was obsessed with cleanliness. When I sponge-wiped the kitchen table Sadie donned rubber gloves and followed after me, spraying the table with Fantastick and wiping it again with a cloth. I have to admit that [...]

I

by Kyle — Age 27 — Brooklyn, NY The face of the pubescent boy changes fast. Previously oblivious that I materially existed, I was alerted in Jr. High by my peers that I was in possession of a large nose. A huge fuckin’ schnoz? A beak? Wasn’t there before. A kid, I was 12, a [...]