Flash Frog

One afternoon at band practice, the robot picked up one of Billy’s bones and brought it to his metal polymer lips. Billy was our first trombonist—but Billy had ears. And after hearing the robot blow just a few bars, Billy knew his days of…

The year the sinkhole opened behind Marla’s house we were already halfway through the brisket and three handles of vodka, the folding tables bowing under deviled eggs sweating in paprika, the kids ricocheting between the trampoline and the inflatable pool while the dogs patrolled…

She thinks the universe is mostly errands. Dog thinks it is mostly smells. This seems like a disagreement, but it works. At Edgewater Park, the lake is doing its big quiet pretending-to-be-calm thing, which makes her trust it even though she knows better. Dog…