The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed

“Men are physically stronger,” the doctor asserted with professional finality.
“Yes, often, and larger, but what does that matter when we have machines? And even when we don’t have machines, when we must dig with the shovel or carry on the back, the men maybe work faster – the big ones – but the women work longer… Often I have wished I was as tough as a woman.”

Galapagos

Galapagos

Mary Hepburn and the Captain had good teeth when they arrived on Santa Rosalia, although they were both well over thirty, thanks to regular visits to dentists, who drilled out rot and drained abscesses and so on. But they were toothless when they died. Selena...
Mockingbird

Mockingbird

I stretched myself in the chair and yawned. Then I said, “What happened to conversations? Why don’t people talk anymore, Bob?” He looked at me. “Yes,” he said, as though he had been thinking about the same thing himself. “When I was newly made, back in Cleveland,...
Brown

Brown

Of course, I did spare a thought for a little boy I’d seen earlier that day. He was kneeling on the other side of the street, sobbing away to himself. On the ground in front of him, a small white dog was lying dead. But I knew he’d soon get over it. After...
Eleanor Rigby

Eleanor Rigby

Assorted fantasies: “I just think they’re creepy. A week ago he told me he’d had this vision where two ex-lovers passed each other on the street. They’d had an ugly breakup, and their punishment was that each time they saw each other they...