So Many
Photo credit: Camila Damásio and Lum3n.
We’re sitting on the stoop late one afternoon when a guy walks by with a dog.
“Look at this asshole,” my friend says to me.
I look at him, and then at my friend, puzzled. “Why’s he an asshole?”
“Walking? With a dog like that? Asshole.”
After a while, another guy walks by.
“Look at this asshole,” my friend says again.
“What?”
“Walking like that? Without a dog?”
We sit for a minute, the sun slowly falling toward the horizon.
“So many assholes out today,” my friend says to me.
I wait a beat before responding: “Tell me about it.”
About the Author
Ben Roth teaches philosophy and writing at Tufts and Harvard. His fiction has been published by Nanoism, Flash, Blink-Ink, Sci Phi Journal, Aesthetics for Birds, Cuento Magazine, 101 Words, decomp journal, Bodega Magazine, Gambling the Aisle, Sensitive Skin, and Euphony, and his criticism by Chicago Review, AGNI Online, 3:AM Magazine, The Millions, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
