fwriction

I’m a big fan of Kevin Canty’s short stories, and I think it’s about time everybody knows it, dammit. Here’s “The Birthday Girl,” from the collection Where the Money Went, published in The L Magazine. Enjoy today’s story of the day, please!

“The Sip ‘n’ Dip Lounge, you see, is on the second floor of the motel, and the pool is on the third floor, and the whole back of the bar is a big window into the underwater part of the pool. I’m not kidding. You can look this up. Some nights they have a show, where girls in bathing suits and mermaid flippers do artistic underwater dances while breathing out of air-hoses. I’ve seen the pictures, and I’ve had it described to me. All the way down the long hallways of the motel, I hope that they’ll be out when I get to the bar. It seems like a fine night for mermaids.”