The Wedged Upright

The Standing Room Cat

A cat sleeps across two seats of the packed evening train while commuters stack up in the aisle, none willing to wake it. The conductor strides down the carriage, stops, quietly straightens his cap, and steps past.

The Sideways Suitcase

One crooked wheel steers a rolling suitcase in wide, stately arcs across the terminal while its owner corrects course without looking up. The wheel finally straightens just as the pair glides to a stop at the lost luggage desk.

The Midnight Cake Heist

GRANDPA NILO executes his mapped route to the refrigerator at midnight, stepping over each creaky floorboard like a laser grid. The kitchen light reveals the entire family already seated around the cake, forks raised.

The Jingle Bell Tripwire

Determined to catch the tooth fairy, seven-year-old BEA rigs her bedroom door with a tripwire of jingle bells and yarn. At one in the morning the bells erupt, the flashlight snaps on, and her dad stands frozen mid-tiptoe, coin in hand.

The Flicker Chase

A repair tech fixes the avenue's flickering streetlamp, and the flicker jumps to the next lamp down the row. Lamp by lamp she chases it to the end of the street, where the moths finally settle on her van's headlights.

The Raccoon-Proof Bin

Every night a raccoon defeats the newest latch on the garden bin, working bungee cords and bricks like a locksmith. Tonight the owner watches from the window as it ignores his padlocked lid and lifts the neighbor's plain one.