Here are four of my favorite Russell Edson pieces from this collection that I've read over and over and over again. Somewhat in the same spirit, at the very bottom is my own micro-fiction I had published some years back.


THE AUTOPSY
In a back room a man is performing an autopsy on an old raincoat.
His wife appears in the doorway with a candle and asks, how does it go?
Not now, not now, I'm just getting to the lining, he murmurs with impatience.
I just wanted to know if you found any blood clots?
Blood clots?
For my necklace . . .


THE CLOSET
Here I am with my mother, hanging under the molt of years, in a garden of umbrellas and rubber boots, together always in the vague perfume of her coat.
See how the fedoras along the shelf are the several skulls of my father, in this catacomb of my family.


THE LONELY TRAVELER
He's a lonely traveler, and finds companion in the road; a chance meeting, seeing as how they were both going the same way.
. . . only, the road has already arrived at its end; like a long snake, its eyes closed in the distance asleep . . .


THROUGH THE DARKNESS OF SLEEP
In sleep: softly, softly, angel soldiers mob us with their brutal wings; stepping from the clouds they break through the attic like divers into a sunken ship.

A handful of shingles they hold, leafing through them like the pages of our lives; the book of the roof: here is the legend of the moss and the weather, and here the story of the overturned ship, sunken, barnacled by the markings of birds . . .
. . . We are to be led away, one by one, through the darkness of sleep, through the mica glitter of stars, down the stairways of our beds, into the roots of trees . . . slowly surrendering, tossing and turning through centuries of darkness . . .



TAKING A SHOWER
A man is about to step into the shower when he discovers a chimpanzee in the tub.

"Well, let's give you a little water," the man says as he bends over and with a snap of the wrist turns on the hot.

The chimpanzee starts shrieking and tries desperately to get out. By that time, though, the man has pulled the shower curtain closed and punches at the outline of the chimp through the cloth.

The door creeks open. Alarmed, the man twists around and sees another chimpanzee lope in; outnumbered he bolts.

Now his eyes really bulge, his naked flesh trembles. The hallway is full of chimpanzees. And when the chimps gander at his horrified face, they all start jumping up and down, baring their teeth, creating a din with their high-pitched screeching. Surging forward, flailing his arms like an over-wound windup toy, the man takes a running leap toward the stairs leading down to the parlor where his wife is hosting afternoon tea.

The chimps clutch at him with their hairy arms, and when he tumbles down the stairs, no less than seven chimps tumble with him. The mass of hair, teeth, penises, tails and white sweaty flanks crash at the foot of the stairs.

The ladies glance over from their tea for a moment and continue their conversation.

Untangling themselves, the embarrassed chimps race out the back door and are followed quickly by their fellows who stampede down the stairs, trample the man's legs, and head on the way.

The man ceremoniously picks himself up, bows to the ladies, executes a left face, and marches back up the stairs and into the bathroom. Clutching the soap with a burly hand, he proceeds to scrub himself. Just when he's about to reach for the shampoo, the first chimp vaults back into the tub. Hastily, the man snatches him up by the neck and tail, sprints to the head of the stairs, and flings the chimp airborne to the bottom.

"Your first flying lesson," he snickers, brushing off his palms one against another with a flourish.

He stomps back to the bathroom that by this time has really steamed up. There's a wet bar of soap on the floor - his foot hits it. He takes a nasty fall. Unable to get up, he writhes in pain on the white hexagonal tiles.

Meanwhile, all the chimps come rumbling back up the stairs, trample over his belly, and pile into the tub.

"The soap, sir, where is the soap?" the chimp, now wearing aviator goggles, beseeches, and then spotting the shining bar in the corner, steps out to retrieve it. The man splutters pleas for help, but his voice is drowned out by all the whooping. ( )