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Novels by Mary Marcus
New on the Blog
Safe Zone
“We’ve taken in a man and his dog. He’s lost everything! I knew not to buy in Malibu, we’re so lucky to be in a safe zone.” A safe zone. He had to smile hearing his hostess’ description. His cute, plump, bouncy hostess in her bright, exercise clothes looked like a lot of contended mamas he saw on the street. Though in her case, the boobs looked real. She was standing by a marble counter at one end of the huge room, yakking on her big gold cell phone for him and everyone else to hear. Her fingernails were bright purple and so were her toes. Maybe she and her family would have been better off in Malibu wearing gasmasks than here in Brentwood —O.J.’s old hood—with the likes of him. Photo: Joel Goodman The fires in Malibu had been an incredible piece of luck for him. And so was finding the stray white poodle with no collar. At the community center where they were fed he was given new clothing. They fit right in with the people who were burnt out of their homes, wandering around with nothing but shopping bags full of family photos and their cell phones. He filched a photo when its owner was standing in the coffee line and stuck it in his jacket pocket. It was of old-fashioned couple from another time that could be anybody’s great grandparents. Also lucky for him, his twin brother in San Francisco had arranged for him to pick up a cell phone a few weeks before so they could stay in touch. His new iPhone—not fancy,...Upper Trapezius
“God, that feels so good!” she sighed. “Just what the doctor ordered.” Now, he was pressing his thumb, into some previously unknown hard place outside her shoulder blade and was holding it there. “Release!” he commanded her softly. All she could do is grunt. She hoped she didn’t sound like some porno movie… Meanwhile, he kept on pressing, while his softly accented voice sounded grave and concerned. “You have the tightest upper trapezius I have ever felt. I noticed that last time. If you don’t learn to relax you will certainly be at the doctor. Your whole body is filled with stress…” Photo: Joel Goodman Her eyes were closed, but her shoulders still felt as though they might be attached to her earlobes. This was her third visit to the chair massage station at the health food store on Broadway, next to the green market where she often stopped after work to pick something up they needed at home. Who knew what pleasure lay beyond the doors where healthy, wholesome, totally unappealing food was sold in bulk? Where wheat grass, CBD oil and seventy-five dollar vitamins were displayed like diamonds were at Tiffany, with pomp and gravitas. Like before, she began to feel her stiff shoulders melting, her arms felt liquid, her painful neck relaxing as the handsome youngish masseur dug his fingers into her upper body; a body no one had touched since her husband officially took off some months ago. Not that he had done a lot of touching in the year before that, or even the year before that one. Though he had hugged her...She Was Mine
Although he had known for several weeks he was going to see her, he still was astonished when she walked through the gate and into the garden for the party. Would he have recognized her anywhere? Probably not. She was thinner than when she left, all those years ago; he remembered having told himself at the time it was that she wasn’t quite sleek enough to really turn him on. She was certainly sleek now, and his husband Brad, who was thin and buff when they were first together, now had a noticeable pot with or without a shirt. No, he and Brad were not going to turn out to be one of those cozy couples who started to look alike after many years. He was short and in, he had to admit, impeccable shape for a guy of 55, even a gay guy of 55. Meanwhile, very tall Brad had gone almost entirely too fat. “Welcome!” Brad was saying, and he noticed they hugged, his first wife and his first husband warmly, unconditionally. Now he was hugging her, and he was remembering something clearly: they were exactly the same height. Photo: Joel Goodman She stood away from him and grinned. “This is hilarious!” And she tossed her hair back and hooted. Another thing he had loved and hated about her: something totally wild and uninhibited in her nature that he could never match. Brad who was grimacing like a jack o’lantern with capped teeth was far more out there than he’d ever be. I’m steady as a church, or an old wooden desk. I’m upright and dependable and...
The New Me
Lavina
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