I could have died that morning,
and no one would have been the wiser.
The thieves fled on foot.
Nobody chased them.
She pointed the pistol at him and said,
All right, you bastard, this is it.
She was the most beautiful woman
I had ever seen, and I knew she could never love me.
My name is Smith, he said.
Smith with an S.
The stairs seemed to go down forever.
The footsteps behind me were growing louder.
The clown’s makeup was smeared with sweat
and all the rice pudding the children had flung at him.
I had to get rid of the body somehow.
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