Fleishman Is in Trouble

by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Toby Fleishman awoke one morning inside the city he’d lived in all his adult life and which was suddenly somehow now crawling with women who wanted him.

First sentence

Once, I’d written a short story—this was back the first time when I thought I might write fiction—and it ended up in some anthology. Three of us from the anthology were asked to read our stories at a Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side. Toby showed up. He told me he was worried no one else was coming, which, well, no one else came.

So maybe he’s just going through shot and self-centered for a reason. Maybe we’re all self-centered and useless to the world around us.

He watched the people move around in his ghost body and he felt that he had room for them all, that they could all stay and he could accommodate them and be their host. He stood staring with this thought for he didn’t know how long until he heard a key in the lock and a hinge creak open and he turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway.

Final sentence. Ended just like Libby said it would.