Tidying Up Dustin M. Hoffman
She buried his bones inside the vacuum cleaner. They weren't bones so much
as grinds, cremation leftovers. It wasn't burying so much as tidying. The
mortician had delivered him to her like a baby, two handed, solemn, the
entirety of him neatly stowed inside an urn that looked marble but was
really porcelain. Once home, all she had to do was loosen her grip until
ashes poured upon the red entryway rug. She didn't hate him. She didn't even
dislike him. But what else is one to do with dust besides clean it up?
Dustin M. Hoffman is the author of ONE-HUNDRED KNUCKLED FIST—a collection of
stories. He has recent work in The Threepenny Review, Pleiades,
Booth, The Journal and others.
Read his postcard.
Read more of DH's work in the archive.
Detail of art on main page by Antonio Sena: "Deep" (Acrylic on canvas; 1975).
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