All libraries should have these luminous corners. That space near the blinds, behind the section reserved for the Quattrocento; or that seldom frequented mezzanine, obstructed by boxes and half-built ... [+]
A Pushcart Prize nominee, Kurt Bachard is a widely published writer from South London, UK. His fiction has been published by Dell (in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine), Claren Books, Comet press, Flametree books, among many others. "Busy Bodies" is on Short Circuit #01, Short Édition's quarterly review.
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Italian
It was a wonder the neighbors didn't complain. And I know it's irrational, maybe even paranoid, but I imagined the old guy upstairs must have heard me crying lately and was mocking my bereavement. Every night as I lay awake staring at the dark ceiling, wrapped in my cocoon of misery, I heard him laughing in the apartment directly above until dawn. But I mean really laughing, guffawing like a mad man. No loud music, no banging, no mumbling TV or radio, just this old guy laughing all alone, all night long."What's so damn funny?" I yelled up at the ceiling one night. I gave up trying to sleep and