'Orderings' by Hugh Behm-Steinberg

I’m working on a project. I’m finishing a project. I’m starting something new. I’m making eggplant for supper tonight. I’m going to make soup for supper tomorrow. I’m folding clothes. I load and set the washer so that when I get up in the morning I can hang the laundry. Someone’s dog is barking.

I go to Spanish class. On the way home I go to the mercat, I buy a chicken and the chicken lady cuts it up for me. I’m saving the livers to make chopped liver. I don’t really like chopped liver but I’m going to give it another chance. 

On the way home the guy two doors up from me is walking his Afghan, who is so much calmer these days I wonder if he’s been going to dog therapy, or if he’s just been medicated. “Are you medicated?” I ask the dog. “It’s ok if you don’t want to tell me.”

I need to start my stories closer to the action. The bookstore owner across the street says, “Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out where that smell is coming from.” I don’t need to start my stories closer to anything.

I’m getting closer. I’m thinking about how, instead of action, there is ordering. The mandarins I bought at the mercat, I peel one and feed the slices to you. You close your eyes when I feed them to you. And I tell you all about the various dogs I’ve seen.

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Hugh Behm-Steinberg’s prose can be found in X-Ray, Grimoire, Ergot, Heavy Feather Review and Afterimages. His short story 'Taylor Swift' won the Barthelme Prize from Gulf Coast. His most recent book is Animal Children, published by Nomadic/Black Lawrence Press. He lives in Barcelona, where he edits fiction for Mercurious. https://linktr.ee/hughsteinberg.