AUNT CHLOE HAD BEEN TASTELESS. She was what people now called ghetto fabulous. Everyone was using that word now and no one knew what it meant. Once, Mason Darrow had been watching an award show and, affront of all fronts, a Black woman had misused ghetto fabulous. She had a voice like a valley girl and Mason didn’t think she was really Black anyway, but she had shown off a bedazzled, expensive cell phone and said, “Isn’t it ghetto fabulous!” No, to have something ghetto fabulous, you coul...

They sat on the porch steps side by side saying nothing and then suddenly, they could hear, “ “Oh, God! Oh, shit! Shit! Shit! Philip!” Sully turned around for just a brief second. He wished that Tommy wasn’t his friend so that he could just sit here and watch. Sure in the shit, Philip was fucking this chick on his sofa and, presumably, Tommy’s mother was getting fucked by the big fat buy in the back of the house. Instead of looking, Sully pretended he wasn’t concerned and said, “Why ...

“I FEEL LIKE YOU’RE KEEPING something from me,” Balliol said flatly. Sully turned to him. “If you are that’s your affair,” Balliol said. “Maybe you need to keep it to yourself. Maybe it’s someplace deep inside of you, and you can’t talk about it yet. I don’t have to know everything.” They were at Sully’s house, a rarity. Tina was still at work and Sully had actually scheduled out this whole day for he and his friend. Justin had called in the morning. It hadn’t even hurt the littlest bit...

“I was actually thinking about not telling you because I thought ‘It’s not really his business,’” Swain said as she barged into Balliol’s bedroom. “And then I thought, ‘Lincoln will find out sooner or later,’ and also I thought, ‘Well, it kind of is his business’. Besides, I do tell you everything.” Balliol, whose door had been open and was now beginning to regret this, gave Swain a look that said, “Get on with it.” “Oh, yes,” Swain said. “I’m seeing Mason. Not in a serious sense. But ...

MASON AND SULLY WERE BOTH at the house when the MacDonalds arrived. They all stood in the foyer which, Mason noted, was not like the foyers in Addison’s neighborhood, but a great hall with parquet wood floors, portraits of dead family members looking down and the light of mid June shining through a long skylight. “Aunt Ruth, Uncle John, glad to see you. Balliol,” his cousin Herse pronounced his name in an entirely uncongenial voice. “Herse,” Balliol returned in the same voice. He...

The problem with Savannah was she didn’t deceive herself. She never said she was going to do a thing unless she did, or unless there was a good chance that she might do it. As wonderful as the idea of “going back to school” was, and she could afford it, she remembered what most of her friends did not. That they had been in no way academic and for them school had been nothing but a chore. So Savannah chose to read a lot instead. She had quit her job and was working at her aunt’s boutiqu...

Tommy was out of the bedroom and down the hall when Mason told Sully. “Actually, Dad said put out the silverware and it’s great to have two kids to boss around. But,” Mason shrugged, “as long as he’s in the kitchen he might as well take care of the dishes.” “Mason!” “You heard him,” Mason said. “It’s just like family. Now, back to you and Chris.” “What?” “What’s the real reason you haven’t done him yet? You’ve been back together for three weeks.” “He’s been at McCleiss.” “He comes...

Tommy was out of the bedroom and down the hall when Mason told Sully. “Actually, Dad said put out the silverware and it’s great to have two kids to boss around. But,” Mason shrugged, “as long as he’s in the kitchen he might as well take care of the dishes.” “Mason!” “You heard him,” Mason said. “It’s just like family. Now, back to you and Chris.” “What?” “What’s the real reason you haven’t done him yet? You’ve been back together for three weeks.” “He’s been at McCleiss.” “He comes...

EXPLOSIONS DO NOT HAPPEN ALL at once, though it seems they do. The fuse may be a long time in lighting. Thomas Lynn Dwyer’s fuse was walking to the trailer called 34456 at Monclova Terrace and finding his mother and her boyfriend buck naked having sex on the plastic covered sofa. It wasn’t the first time, but for some reason this was the last time. The smell of marijuana and the sound of Metallika were coming from his right, where his brother and his brother’s girlfriend slept. For so...

“We’re going to go to my house and get my clothes. I’m going to tell my parents I’m going to Gloria’s. They won’t see your truck cause you’ll be on the corner. And then we’re going to go back out your place and do whatever we want to. We’re going to make the walls blush, and then tomorrow you’ll drop me off at school in my uniform. That’s what we’re going to do. All right?” Seth’s face was hot. He’d never felt like this in his life. He couldn’t even move he was so hot. And then a car hon...

AFTER BONNIE LEFT THE HOUSE, Addison and Mason sat together in the living room. It was Long Sunday, which is what they called the Sunday right before the school year started again. This would be the last Long Sunday and beyond that they could not even begin to think about what came after high school. “I love her,” Addison said after a moment. “I know that now. I love her and I know things are going to work out with us.” “You got things cleared up with Becky?” “Yes,” Addison said. ...

“Seth was. And Seth was after you and afraid to tell you because he’s your friend. He understood. He knows what it’s like to... have a stain. He knows and you don’t. You don’t.” She sat on the ground under the pine tree, in the litter of twigs and brown needles, her shoulders heaving. Addison stood over her thinking: I don’t know why the fuck I came. There was a tap at the door, and Sully got up to answer it. “Could we talk?” said Chris. Sully opened his mouth, but as happened i...

“Seth was. And Seth was after you and afraid to tell you because he’s your friend. He understood. He knows what it’s like to... have a stain. He knows and you don’t. You don’t.” She sat on the ground under the pine tree, in the litter of twigs and brown needles, her shoulders heaving. Addison stood over her thinking: I don’t know why the fuck I came. There was a tap at the door, and Sully got up to answer it. “Could we talk?” said Chris. Sully opened his mouth, but as happened in so many impo...

“Seth was. And Seth was after you and afraid to tell you because he’s your friend. He understood. He knows what it’s like to... have a stain. He knows and you don’t. You don’t.” She sat on the ground under the pine tree, in the litter of twigs and brown needles, her shoulders heaving. Addison stood over her thinking: I don’t know why the fuck I came. There was a tap at the door, and Sully got up to answer it. “Could we talk?” said Chris. Sully opened his mouth, but as happened i...

while today no Wild Life proper will be posted, all through the day I plan to be posting thoughts on the season, and bits and pieces about Wild Life. Just go to the URL. Happy Yule, ME