What became of the brindled cow? I traded her for money.

I’m from where I was born. I’m from elsewhere. –João Guimarães RosaI read Mundo’s letter in a bar in the Beco das Cancelas, an alley-way where I found refuge from the hubbub of…

The long, heavy ladle was lying on the floor when he discovered the murder.

Don't stare, he hissed in his ear.

I looked at my watch. I felt distressed. It's five o'clock.

The only sound to be heard in the little room was the snoring of the landlord interspersed with the quiet tick-tock of the clock on the wall...

People aren't born delinquent; they become so according to the accidents of their lives and their response to them.

A woman . . . foreign . . . was murdered, he replied out of breath as he was tying his faded necktie.

Listen, fellows, the driver says, we should notify the police, or else they'll frame us for it.

I don't want to go for nothing. Have they really given up all hope for her? I ask with my eyes fixed on the desk, forcing myself not to stutter, not to rush.

Short said nothing, and no one found a word of comfort.

...over the slightest little argument or some minor act of injustice, they would say I Accuse,...

Homesickness brought my grandfather back to Venice where my father, Rosario de la Savoia, was born.

This WorldAn Invocation to God – IHe asked me to meet him at the Kreuzberger Café, promising to tell me a story I could use while still staying within the confines of propriety. His call came at…

I'd like to tell them their frustrating match is like life: the best goals are always yet to come, it's just that waiting for them is painful.

Malik Ben weighed 300 pounds on the day he decided to have his name removed from the Yellow Pages.

I liked doing math. The seven-times table was my darling.

If he hadn't asked for me, then everything that followed wouldn't have happened.

People died for a bit of cabbage, I escalated.

Thirteen years that had gone by so quickly, with their ups and downs. Lots of downs . . . Hard luck, wrong choices, missed opportunities.

I feel honored by your invitation to present the academy with a report on my former life as an ape.

Is this some sort of joke? Just because my name sounds Spanish doesn't mean that I am from Argentina.

Here, in this hotel room with yellowish, scratched walls, Clara found an incomplete solitude.

Vicente Rangel González pulled out the twenty-two-caliber pistol he'd paid for in ten installments, undid his belt and put on the holster.

There are stories that seem impossible to tell.

They promised to purge the media during their campaign. And they're going to start with us, he chewed on his cigarette in despair.

I believe in God, but I would never kill in his name, said Argudíin, ignoring Vladimiro's provocation.

To turn the stone over in the palm of my hand, scrutinize it more closely, a real stone, a diamond in the rough?

It was still morning, and we felt ourselves heading into the sea as we sped along this last, ever-narrowing strip of Sicily.

What fate does the future hold for me? Jason asked, intrigued.

What would you say, Boss, he asked, if I offered you a job that would keep the heat off your back?

They warned her that one more offense against good behavior and the promised trip to the promised land (the United States) would be cancelled . . .

Chapter FiveWe were working on “recording” the following scenes from my novel: the Sunday lunch in the garden at Manuel’s house, where the two families part amicably, mothers and aunts…

What would I do, Beatriz, if something happens to you? How would your father feel if something happens to you? Don't you think about that?

The cat took off. Right before it started. I was running after it when I lost my balance - thought I was getting anemic or something.

We ate worms, the most expensive dish at the restaurant.

A great fear and alarm took hold of her when she heard the high priest's words.

She had gestured with her free hand while the other had gripped his hand and the card.

When Abu Gamal revealed Shaykh Hasan's secret to the residents of Number 36 . . .

Forget the admirer, Saniya. This guy will not take care of you.

They will kidnap you, daddy's girl.

We had to walk. This necessity made me happy. I hadn't been this happy for a long while, I thought.

I do not know what to say to you, said the director. Therefore I shall say nothing.

Perhaps they might meet the village lads or the male patients of the men's sanatorium, as spent as themselves. What else was there to do in the midst of the Black Forest?

Sorrow is a dirt for her, the moment she notices a speck of it smeared on her body, she scrubs it off her skin.

But in that moment of pure amazement, while some blew prayers to the right and left or panicked and almost wet their pants, a few risked touching the bus gingerly.

That is my life. There is no escape from any memories.

My heart was set on one escape route in particular: the mailbox.

Was that a bite he'd just felt on his earlobe, a tiny bite?

Reaching into the first drawer of the counter behind him, he pulled out a red rose with a long stem. And he also left this for you.

You're from Beirut? she cried, the words tumbling out of her mouth and her eyes filling with tears.

Guy like him deserves to get the daylights beaten out of him.

I'll jerk them out of your head if you don't clean up in front of the woodshed next time, she screamed.

“Ah! So you’re a real person?”He smiled in amusement. “So it would seem.”

I come from Spite and Remorse.

Hold on tight. And when I held on to his hair, as he told me to, I got his sticky and greasy hair tonic all over my hands.

For the rap version of this story, click here.1She’s here, she’s here. Here at the office to see us. The Big Dog, her manager, comes, too. Comes in a bomb-ass Chrysler, his lackeys tag along.…

McCain looked at his watch, remembered his abandoned pool game, his whisky, and his buddies who were waiting for him, and answered distractedly: Everything is gonna be fine.

In the old days, inside the Green Mountain, there lived a giant serpent who acted as if it were the master of the place, rixxo.

If I kill this deer, I will have money to buy a chicken.