Heartscald by Gary Lutz

 
 

Want a pick-me-up to start your day?  Take a look at several of the 19 selections from Heartscald, a short story by Gary Lutz:

ERRAND
The girl behind the counter rang up my package of paper towels and said, "Will that be all?"
"No," I said, "I want to suck out all of your memories."

THE TROUBLE BETWEEN PEOPLE USUALLY GETS ITS STARTED
The pastor kept saying, "Thy will be done," and all I could think was, "Thy what will be done?"

SHE WAS CARDIACALLY ALL OVER THE PLACE
What they told me is that when the doctors opened him up, they found lots of accordion files, jars full of wheat pennies, a glockenspiel, a couple of storm windows, and told him there was nothing they could do.

RECORD PLAYER
I used to play my records with the volume turned all the way down.
I would lower my ear to the needle to hear the tiniest, trebliest versions of the song.

GIRL
She wanted me to believe her best feature was her shadow.

FATHERLAND
The state I was born in had to be abbreviated as "PA."

THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY BUT SO WHAT?
I wish I could inhabit my life instead of just trespassing on it. 

Note: Heartscald is included in the short story collection, Partial List of People to Bleach, as well as The Compete Gary Lutz published by Tyrant Books.