Pieces of Time In settings that range from small-town America to Mexico and Jamaica, ordinary people, caught between the real and the surreal, grapple with the most unlikely twists of fate as they struggle to understand life. A young Hispanic boy learns the meaning of love from a fish stranded in a Sierra rock pool. A girl confronts the darkness behind her creative talent. A vagabond handyman is chased out of one town and then reappears in a later story to find his purpose. A character slips from a 13th-century tale into a 20th-century brothel. A depressed man escapes suicide—or does he?-after anonymously helping a Scottish girl whose mother is dying. A cocaine dealer quits the habit after an encounter with a talking raven. A MAGA loyalist discovers he’s gay. An apple grower hides the grotesque truth of his secret hobby. Two Jehovah’s Witnesses on a mission are arrested at the Mexico City airport. This is flash fiction at its sharpest-strange, fast, and unforgettable. These stories will keep you awake while you wait for your surgical readjustment or your DMV appointment.