fwriction

To celebrate the kickoff of Jazz Fest 2010, today’s Story of the Day comes from a brilliant New Orleans writer, Barb Johnson. Her debut collection of stories, More of This World or Maybe Another, is one of the most fantastic works in recent memory. This story, “Killer Heart,” will stick to your bones:

“The monster Victorian faces Magazine Street and, along with its neighbors, blocks tourists’ view of the run-down rental properties of the Irish Channel, among which is Dooley and Tina’s little rented shotgun house. Dooley has often studied the elaborate landscaping through the gaps in the wooden fence. Up close, it’s really, really nice.

He cuts down the Victorian’s side yard and walks right out to the front of the house without anyone saying boo. He goes up the house’s steps and rings the bell. Jeffrey Mathers, it says on the mailbox. Jeffrey is gone today, or maybe he’s always been gone. Maybe it’s only his name that’s here.”