How old are you?" Erika asks.
Panic vibrates in Lopey's voice. "I'll be ten in a week and a half. You know that. Why you gotta ask?"
She sees he's been crying. A stream describes his cheek where a tear fell. He doesn't wipe it away. She wants to do it for him. He sets his jaw and fixes his eyes front. Opening her handbag she fishes out a package of bubblegum, holds it toward him. He raises his palm, shakes his head, pushes it away. The hard glance makes him seem much older, it unnerves Erika.
"Can you explain this to me? I'm at a loss for words."
"Explain what?"
"The whole thing. Your behavior. This—" Erika pushes out an aggravated growl, cups her outstretched palms in helplessness, and weaves her fingers together. The weaved fingers become a cap that she places on her head and squeezes, as if she could literally push comprehension through her skull. She keeps thinking the cops had no right to decide to scare him with a visit to the precinct, no more right than he had to mess with drugs. "What have you done?" she asks no one. The hollow corridor makes everything sound bigger. "What were you thinking? Were you thinking?"
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 One Story is a non-profit literary magazine that features one great short story mailed to subscribers every three weeks. Our mission is to save the short story by publishing in a friendly format that allows readers to experience each story as a stand-alone work of art and a simple form of entertainment. One Story is designed to fit into your purse or pocket, and into your life. Because we like a challenge we will publish each writer one time only. This prevents us from relying on a stable of writers and helps us find new and exciting voices. Between September and June, all writers can submit their work. Since launching in 2002 we have grown to have over 5000 subscribers. Many of the stories we have published have won awards, and many One Story writers have gone on to publish their first (or third, or tenth) books. But what keeps us going is the community we have created. Please join us: subscribe, come to an event, or chat on our blog.
June 30th, 2009 10:21pm by Hannah Tinti I first heard about James Hannaham’s work from Martha Southgate, who’d read an early galley of his first novel, God Says No. “He’s the real deal,” she said. And when I got the chance to read his writing myself, I agreed. There is a beauty and scope to James’s work that is simply classic–just like the music that turns the plot of “Interrupted Serenade.” The prose is clear, precise, and devastating–and yet James puts his own special stamp on these characters. It feels very fresh to be exploring a relationship between a stepmother and her stepson. Lopey and Erika stayed with me–I found myself thinking of her holding in that scream at the police station, and later, I began downloading Debussy and Chopin, so that I could hear the music Lopey was practicing. Whenever I become that involved with a story, I know it will be a good fit for our magazine. I hope our readers enjoy this taste of James’s work, stop by our Q&A with him to learn how he wrote it, and then go out and buy his novel, God Says No.
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