The second floor tenant of a three story apartment building can’t help but know what’s going on with her neighbors.
(from Pindeldyboz.com)
I like the way this piece has a main character who tells us detailed information — about her upstairs neighbor in mourning, her downstairs neighbor who watches porn, her dog who eats trash, her hours at the courthouse where she sketches — but leaves most of her own thoughts unexhumed. She’s somebody with a dog, and a job, and not a lot else going on. With very little actual action to lead us further into this character besides her cursory tour, we’re left with more of an articulate still life than a story. Appropriately, this is a shorter piece.