All You Can Eat

He showed us what was on his fork, triumphantly, as if he had made it or given birth to food. I have no idea what this is!, he told us. What is this? He made us taste it from his fork, reloading as needed, and guess what it might be.

Feeling the Feeling I Felt

The next day, I understood French. Standing by the curb in my bathrobe and slippers on a frosty morning, looking for the paper in the shrubs, I saw the sparkling blades of grass and heard the crystals crunch beneath my feet in a suburb of a suburb of New York City—all right, Jersey—

Loansharking for Dummies

This is not my usual business. I’m what my associates call a financial adviser but occasionally I will let out some surplus funds at an agreed return to help a person pursue a dream. This could be college; it could be a night of romance with a special lady, a shipment of cigarettes, or it could be something we all take for granted like walking straight.

Sandbox Tantra

The kids are playing Doctor in the sandbox. Our first concern is what they use for instruments but we let them have their space. We see them in profile from the house earnest and still. Their lips are moving.
—Where does it hurt?
—Everywhere. I suffer from a general malaise.

Watchers

They come to Miami, he told me, because flights are cheap and the locals mind their own business. Same here, I told them, plus the women are drop-dead knockouts! I raised my glass and reached it past him in his wife’s direction; we all clinked glasses and I ordered a round. Where I come from, that’s a contract.

New Arrangements

They were together in the bed in his room every weeknight for over a year, feeding on each other like prisoners downing their rations. Weekends were work nights, the only gigs he could get, and she was too young for the clubs,

Politics of Beauty

Either she was magnificent and the world makes sense in a deeply unfair but ordinary sort of way, or her looks, which strike everyone who sees her as a force of nature, are the reasonable norm and the rest of the world falls short.

Funny Pink Animals

Let’s all have a laugh at humanity, while we still have a sense of humor about us. It’s getting dark out there, my friends, where we make what we call our livings, but here in the room, where our private movies are staged and we are stars,

Kama Sutra for Beginners

I stayed inside her for a very long time. Propped on elbows, I let my rhythm slow, listened to our breath like bending trees and felt my heart keep time.

The Truth About Sex

The honest man tells his wife the truth about sex. It’s a vertiginous moment. The truth about sex is that he always wants it and will forever continue to want it with whomever is nearest and most willing and most attractive,