Uncategorized – Sebastian Malloy

Zombie Chickens and Poultrygeists

A close-up of blueish chicken feet on a wooden floor.

Rivi and I are sitting on the porch at Boone and Tina’s new house, where they have given Rivi a temporary (or permanent, because who can really say) room in which to live. I have been over helping them to unpack, which has mainly consisted of carrying boxes up a flight or two of stairs, or down into the basement. I have been reminded just how much I hate moving, but I do it without complaint. I’m just happy to have my friends close by again. “I haven’t seen any ghosts in the house yet,” Rivi says. “I’m very disappointed.”…

A Whispered Insistence

“Tell me,” Tina says. She is in the easy chair in my living room, sitting sideways with one foot on the floor and the other propped up on the arm of the chair. Her dress rides high and her bare legs glow yellow in the light of the streetlamp outside my apartment. The light flickers off and then on again, the wiring faulty, strobing her once, then twice, then being steady once more. “Tell you what?” I ask. “About you and Olivia,” she says. “There’s nothing to tell,” I say. A lie. She takes the hem of her dress between…