Flash Frog

The government sent a man to count the dead in Iztapalapa—the murder capital of Mexico. He wore clean shoes, so everyone knew he wouldn’t stay long. By noon the heat had softened his clipboard. The ink bled slightly, as if the numbers were melting….

When the water comes, it seeps through the windows. Dad says that’s because the windows are wood and rotten, just like Mom’s teeth, just like her breath that always smells like pickle juice and Mom hollers that if Dad keeps insulting her, she’ll turn…

At the playground, a five-year-old boy levels an invisible rifle at my nursing baby. He’s standing on a rope bridge between the slide and the monkey bars, and he sights like we are a doe and her fawn. Dizzy with rage, I stand up…