Month: June 2014

At the door that separates the formal living room and dining room, there’s a basic-black chin-up bar. Erin and Eldar Spahic are having their morning coffee; he’s gulping his out of a super-size-me beer stein, and she is sipping hers from a round mug that doubles as a soup bowl. Erin and Eldar have entered the 2014 Death Race. Caffeine is their training fuel of choice, and they really need to chug-a-lug jolts of java because this weekend they are going to participate in the 2014 Death…

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When the outdoor table is empty, Vincenzo Vaccaro takes a break and a seat. He lights a cigarette and in between smoke rings pours black coffee down his throat. Vincenzo’s the owner of Vaccaro’s Italian bakery. Soon, he’ll be doing what he does every day. He’ll be making pizzas and sandwiches for Vaccaro’s bakery, which he and his father, Francesco, own. Don’t get the wrong idea. Vincenzo isn’t going to do this forever. Yeah, it’s true that he was…

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It is what the masked men did to her before they took the money that keeps Sajida Gulamrasool up at night. The robbers put a gun to Susan’s head. They pressed a gun to her head. It was big and black and felt cold against her skin. “If you scream, we will rape you; the four of us will take turns.” That’s what they said as they pinned her arm behind her back, dragged her down the stairs and threw her against the hallway wall. Mack was away on a business trip. Short and slight,…

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It’s going on six decades. Even Jimmy Bejanis is astounded when he does the math. That’s a long time — his entire life — to stay in one place and in one house. Jimmy and Margo have been married 11 years. But what are you going to do? He shrugs. The house belonged to his parents, who are long since gone. It’s a modest two-family, and Jimmy doesn’t know much about the first floor because he’s always lived on the second. He and his older sister shared a room…

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