by Mink | Mar 11, 2022 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Sunset. A lake in the north country. Moi sits on a purple blanket at the edge of the water. An open fire warms a pot of coffee. Moi reads a few different PG Wodehouse novels back-to-back for hours on end, pauses, pours a coffee, and speaks an aside. Moi: I was always...
by Mink | Feb 17, 2022 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Afternoon sunlight shines through a window into a bedroom; a covid patient sits reading in the sunlight on the bed. Patient: Well, I finally have my answer. How many years ago did I write that question on Quora asking about why America’s two party system was creating...
by Mink | Feb 16, 2022 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Ben Shapiro sits for an interview with Socrates. Socrates: Hey, thanks for joining me today. Ben: Happy to be here. Socrates: I’ve been listening to your social commentary and find it lacking in a good measure of truth. You’ve definitely expressed one of the many...
by Mink | Feb 16, 2022 | historio-tragicomedy, History
A ten-year-old swings from a rope swing hung from an oak tree in rural Idaho; he talks to himself: Ten-year-old: Gosh, I really like to swing; I swing so much some days that I get sick. What is that sickness? A motion sickness? What causes that sickness? Is something...
by Mink | Oct 26, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
In a stone house in the middle of Lisbon there lived a young girl. Not a nasty, dirty, wet stone house, filled with green and black mold, nor yet a dry, bare, modern stone house with nothing in it but glass and rubber light fixtures that jiggle when you touch them: it...
by Mink | Oct 21, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Dawn. A thousand years in the future. A knoll in an oak forest. Granite boulders loll about where an ancient cataclysm tossed them. A half naked troglodyte, piebald and weary, limps up the knoll and sees a text engraved on a stone. The troglodyte approaches, knocks...
by Mink | Oct 19, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Philosopher: I miss your giggle; when you came here—the first couple of nights that you were here—you giggled all the time! Johnny: I can’t giggle anymore; I lost the little spark of je ne sais quoi which gave me my effeminate charm. I think it was when my ex-wife...
by Mink | Oct 19, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Irene and Teresa walk home from school a few days after they both fell into a well. Teresa: Thanks for jumping into that well to save me. Irene: That’s okay; my dad asked me to watch over you. Teresa: Why? Irene: I can’t really tell you that, but I was the one in...
by Mink | Oct 18, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
At the mouth of the open well, a small group had formed around a Portuguese television personality named Catarina. Catarina, into the camera: If you are joining us just now, we are live at a music festival where a girl has fallen into a well, and a boy rappelled in...
by Mink | Oct 14, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
A woman drives a car up a dirt road into a forest. She parks, walks a ways into the forest, pees, and says: Woman: Ah, well-met, Forest! As she pulls up her trousers, the pines sigh in a gentle breeze. Birds chirp. Two oak leaves flutter down and land on the woman’s...
by Mink | Oct 12, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
The philosopher sits on his jail bed. His cell mate, the local drunk, stands in the corner thumbing a phone. A bitcoin miner enters the jail and approaches the cell bars. Miner: Are you the philosopher? Drunk: No, I’m just here for the food and the wifi. Philosopher:...
by Mink | Sep 29, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
A philosopher sits in a jail cell and pontificates at his cell mate. Philosopher: The concept of herd immunity is ridiculous and reveals the weakness in our public health. I mean, there is no such thing as herd immunity; there is individual immunity, yes, and, by...
by Mink | Sep 27, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
A small study. The walls are covered in antique books and a happy fire burns in the hearth. An armchair sits in the middle of the room where a fuddy-duddy sits reading a novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy about the adventures of the dashing and imitable Scarlet...
by Mink | Sep 10, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
A father and daughter sit on a blanket in the park. Daughter: Papa! PAPA! HEY, PAPA! Father: Yes, what? Daughter: I asked you a question. Father: Oh, really? That’s ironic. Daughter: Don’t change the subject: I asked you a question. Father: I didn’t hear you; what was...
by Mink | Aug 16, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Two Americans meet in the street of a Portuguese town. 1. How are you today? 2. I’m exhausted. 1. Oh, really, what do you do? 2. I help American expats find houses here in Portugal, but I came here to get away from all that annoying cultural stuff. 1. I’m an American;...
by Mink | Jul 21, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
A tourist approaches a group of photographs that depict Weiwei flipping off various famous buildings and landscapes. The tourist herself raises her own hand and flips off the photos of Weiwei flipping off famous buildings and landscapes. The tourist uploads the photo...
by Mink | Jul 17, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Two guys sit at a beach café and discuss the word awkward. 1. The word awkward is difficult to define. 2. No it isn’t; it just means that expectations aren’t met. 1. I disagree; I think it is difficult to define. In English, one’s whole identity could be awkward; one...
by Mink | Jul 8, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Teresa and Irene walked up the stairs together and stood in front of a stone door. Hieroglyphics covered the door. Teresa: Where does this stone door lead? Irene: To your house. Teresa: No, it doesn’t. Irene: Yes, it does. Teresa: No, it doesn’t. Irene: Yes, it does....
by Mink | Jul 3, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Teresa walked on stage and danced three of the dances; as she reached the far edge of the platform, during one of the more provocative gesticulations, the platform gave way below her and Teresa half fell and half slid off the platform and into the sinkhole that had...
by Mink | Jul 1, 2021 | historio-tragicomedy, History
Teresa: I won’t do it! Uncle: It will be a couple minutes. Teresa: Wearing this outfit? In public? For even a second will destroy everything I’ve done over the past lifetime! Uncle: This doesn’t matter; when you are my age, you won’t remember today at all. Teresa: My...
