MARRIAGE COUNSELING

January 5, 2021

PABLO PIÑERO STILLMAN

Before calling it quits Abby thinks we should visit the sage at the sacred McDonald’s on Ridge that’s bathed in light 24/7. We’ve tried everything else—workbooks & therapy & sex toys & beach vacations—so I mean what the hell. At the PlayPlace the Hamburglar’s hosting a party for a five-year-old reincarnation of some divine being whose name cannot be uttered or written. “You’re lucky,” says a kid spinning way too fast on the roundabout, “they just hosed the ball pit.” Our shoes in plastic cubbies, Abby & I slide down to the pit, her legs around my waist. A telepathic god informs us the sage is off that day & drops a couple of gift cards for our troubles. We take the cards to a normal McDonald’s, the one on State, & get ourselves some cheeseburgers & vanilla cones.

from Issue 31.2

PABLO PIÑERO STILLMAN has been the recipient of Mexico’s two top grants for young writers: The Foundation for Mexican Literature (f,l,m) and The National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA). His work has appeared in, among other journals, Ninth Letter, Bennington Review, Notre Dame Review, The Rumpus, and Pacifica Literary Review. His debut novel, Temblador, was published in 2014 by Conaculta, and his collection of short stories, Our Brains and the Brains of Miniature Sharks, was recently published by Moon City Press.