Terence Clarke

A Kiss for Senor Guevara

Her mother, Alma, had told her about him, how he deserved being hunted down by the soldiers out there in the Yuro Ravine. And so Ofelia had thought quite a bit about Señor Guevara... The world-renowned Che Guevara, who brought Fidel Castro to power in Cuba, has been abandoned and captured. During t...

The Star of David (New York Stories)

Michael Boyle (a Jesuit, therefore having paid close attention to the election of the new Pope Francis) hoped that this fellow Bergoglio would do well. Of course, since he’s a Jesuit, Mike smiled, he probably will. Chagrined – but only briefly - by his own disrespect of certain papal traditions, Mi...

"Wilfredo's Debussy" and "Autumn In New York" (New York Stories)

From "Wilfredo's Debussy": "A question?" “Yes,” the man said. He dropped the shopping bag to the floor, and then ran his right index finger along the lacquered surface of the side of the Bechstein Grand. “It’s just that I think you are not American.” His own accent was Hispanic, Monk guessed. “Ho...

Blazes (New York Stories)

“You might want to pay a little more attention to your wife, boy-o,” Paddy had told Leo over coffee a few weeks before. “Why so?” “Well, I…” Paddy, his face a gathering of long-lined angles below a windstorm of black hair, his eyes wide with the possibility of tension-scattering laughter, looked ...

Had he not resembled my father...

An essay on fathers, sons and seizures. "Were it not for Brennan, I could have walked through this life without any real problems at all. In other words, I could have led a shallow life in which I did not have to search for anything, dig for anything, or suffer any loss. But when Brennan had that f...

The Notorious Dream of Jesus Lazaro

Infamous Mexican muralist Jesús Lázaro comes to San Francisco from Mexico, where he had painted the exteriors of churches despite objections by the Catholic Church and the Mexican government. The artist sees the massive cathedral of Saint Mary of The Assumption of San Francisco, at the corner of Gou...

The High Line (New York Stories)

“You attacked me a few months ago.” “No, I didn’t” “I’m afraid you did.” Pollard pointed across The High Line to the bench where he had injured his hand. “It was right over there. Don’t you remember?” “No.” “I just…I just wanted to ask you why you did that.” Eshu closed the magazine and put it down ...

The Three-Cornered Hat (New York Stories)

Emilio had brought a bottle of malbec and two plastic glasses. He poured a bit of the wine into each, and handed a glass to Dante. Both were dressed in Levis and un-tucked in sport shirts with rolled up sleeves. Dante also wore a narrow-brimmed straw fedora, natty with his heavy black-rimmed glasses...

Dogs in Antiquity : Anubis to Cerberus: The Origins of the Domestic Dog

Day Nothing Happened

Day Nothing Happened

My Father in the Night