The Gymnast's Exhibition
My name is Cassy, I'm fifty-four years old, and last spring my marriage of twenty-five years ended.
Stories in Toys & Masturbation tagged body worship, ranked by how many readers finish them. Reads run 10 to 12 minutes. Writers to know: Lark Relay, Frost Rhythm and The Topaz Tempo. Readers usually start with “The Gymnast's Exhibition” and “Lodge Mix-Up”. Some are free to read in full; the rest open with a free preview.
My name is Cassy, I'm fifty-four years old, and last spring my marriage of twenty-five years ended.
So it was my birthday, and I spent the morning of it driving a van full of pool chemicals up a gravel road in the middle of nowhere.
I drove four hours down Interstate 5 with the radio mostly static and my right knee aching from holding the same position, and when I…
I got off my shift at six, went home to shower and eat, and drove to the clinic at nine.
I got to Strike & Spare a little after seven, which in Midwest bowling terms means I was early.
I almost turned the car around twice on the way over, sitting at the light on Hollis Ave with my blinker going and my coffee going cold in…
The sun was going down over the Ibarra place and I was out at the far fence line with a spool of wire and a pair of pliers, sweating…
I got to the studio at nine in the morning, still in the jeans I'd worn to work for the last ten years.
I had been on the road for four hours when I finally accepted that the best part of the trip was the part where nobody knew where I was.