The Mechanic

First published in 50 to 1 (2010)

Clara fixed things, personal things. She stood outside the atrium of the Bellagio with the others, in pajamas, the pealing alarm assaulting her ears. The firemen disembarked, lumbered into the hotel. The story in room 1224 one she wouldn’t tell. Her husband. The hooker. An itch he shouldn’t have scratched.