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What is a bridge but a means to an otherwise inaccessible location? What is a book made of? Words.

Within these pages, you will visit many worlds; meet many people.

—Two brothers. One born without teeth. One born without nails. Witness them transform into something else in Tooth and Nail.

—Enter a world where certain words are illegal. Every day, acceptable language shrinks in The Book of Approved Words.

—Discover an old, forgotten New England tradition of throwing apples at the bride and groom on their wedding, in New England’s Forgotten Apple Throwing Tradition.

—Meet a master locksmith who can manipulate time by picking clocks in The Locksmith’s Clock.

—And much more . . .

Sample Short Story

Baby Powder

            It was midnight as the knick-knack man and the crooked man slowly made their way down the dark, quiet street. Lights flickered and went out as they walked past. Wherever they went, they brought midnight with them.

            “How about this house, brother Knick-knack?” wheezed the crooked man.

            “No, no, the child’s parents would surely notice,” he answered, walking on.

            “This is the twelfth house you’ve rejected. Surely there must be one in this town we can take,” complained the crooked man.

            “They’ve all got parents that care too much. You know the rules,” susurred the knick-knack man.

            “Right, right,” said the crooked man, coughing and lighting a hand rolled cigarette.

            The two men dressed in outdated clothes. Both brothers wore brown top hats with brown coats and tails. They had brown pants and badly scuffed black shoes. Their white vests and shirts were stained, and both wore black string bow ties.

            Their clothes were custom tailored to snugly fit. The brothers were unnaturally skinny. They were disturbing to look upon, but the brothers almost never met anyone on the street. People that did see them could never put their finger on what was off about them.

             They were having difficulty finding materials for their product and becoming frustrated. The knick-knack man stopped in the middle of the empty street and lit a cigar. Casually tossing the match, he began walking again.

            Both were wheezing and sickly. It was their natural state. The crooked man stopped in mid stride and began coughing, hard. The hacking fit brought him to his knees.

            Eventually he stood, brushed himself off, and panted, “It’s over, let’s keep looking.”

            Sometime later, it was clear to both of them they were not going to find any babies in this town. With a wheezy sigh, the crooked man said, “There’s no raw materials for us here. We should move on.”

            His cigar now gone, the knick-knack man nodded in agreement as he lit a pipe full of premium tobacco.

* * *

            The next town over, they had much better success. The crooked man had to steal a shopping cart to carry all the babies in. “This town’s a gold mine,” he rejoiced.

            The procedure for acquiring infants was simple. One of the brothers merely knocked on the door and offered cash for the child. As if under a spell, most people agreed to the purchase.

            The knick-knack man and the crooked man saw taking unwanted infants as a service to the community. “If the parents don’t want them, then what’s the harm?” they thought, “Nobody will miss them.” The knickknack man and the crooked man’s shopping cart was now almost overflowing.

            So happy with their bounty were they, they danced down the street, jumping and clicking their heels together. “Brother Crooked, it appears we have all we can carry. We should return to the factory,” hissed the knick-knack man. Agreeing with him, they made their way to the end of the street.

            Wherever they went, their factory was always nearby. The building had been long abandoned when the brothers found and claimed it as their own. They only took unwanted things.

            The brothers sat in ratty chairs in the derelict office of the factory. The crooked man stood and walked to an armoire in the corner of the room. Grabbing a bottle of expensive and rare whiskey, he poured two tumblers and handed one to his brother.

            The crooked man held his glass high and said, “A toast, to profit.”

            Clinking his glass to his brother’s, the knickknack man said, “I’ll drink to that.”

            Then both were silent as they drained their whiskey.

            Several glasses later, the knickknack man and the crooked man were drunk. They sat silently in their chairs, staring blearily at the gritty floor. Hours later, they sobered up and left the factory looking for more unwanted infants. The brothers never slept.

* * *

            Time passed, and they arrived back at their factory with another shopping cart full of infants. They now had enough raw materials to warrant turning on their machine. The knick-knack man and the crooked man built it from mankind’s hardened indifference.

             They called it The Orphan Grinder, unwanted infants went in one end and baby powder came out the other. It was their masterpiece. After bottling and selling it, the brothers sat in the factory office counting their money.

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