Bowlaway

by Elizabeth McCracken

Some man might call out with advice, too much advice, but in the end it’s your game to play and your game to win.

whose idea of domestic life was the family reading together, in silence, until such a time as he found something interesting he wanted to read aloud.

Apart from his accidental electrocution at the hands of the strength tester, Jeptha Arrison had never been injured on the job.

She was sweet, but just, with a mouth kept bright with lipstick and a laugh like a rusty gate.

There was something mean about her that drew him, a wisp of cruelty that suggested she might push him down a flight of stairs just to see the look on his face.

She believed in the medicinal properties of the doughnut shop.