Anti-Odyssey by Alex Epstein And it happens this way too: A man walked out of his apartment, but turned back after a few steps to make sure he hadn’t forgotten to lock the door, and then he stepped into the elevator and went down and wondered whether, while checking if his door was locked, he might have turned the key the wrong way, thereby in fact opening it, so he went back up to make sure, and when he finally managed to get out onto the street he discovered that it had started to rain and he had no umbrella. He went back to his apartment, locked the door from the inside, closed all the windows, shoved a rag under the door and turned on the gas. All rights reserved by the author. Illustration © 2012 by David Polonsky. Translated by Jessica Cohen. This week, Recommended Reading is publishing one micro-fiction by Alex Epstein a day, each with an illustration by David Polonsky. For more, click here.  Find more by Recommended Reading authors at WORD, our partner bookseller.

Anti-Odyssey

by Alex Epstein


And it happens this way too: A man walked out of his apartment, but turned back after a few steps to make sure he hadn’t forgotten to lock the door, and then he stepped into the elevator and went down and wondered whether, while checking if his door was locked, he might have turned the key the wrong way, thereby in fact opening it, so he went back up to make sure, and when he finally managed to get out onto the street he discovered that it had started to rain and he had no umbrella. He went back to his apartment, locked the door from the inside, closed all the windows, shoved a rag under the door and turned on the gas.


All rights reserved by the author. Illustration © 2012 by David Polonsky. Translated by Jessica Cohen.


This week, Recommended Reading is publishing one micro-fiction by Alex Epstein a day, each with an illustration by David Polonsky. For more, click here.


 Find more by Recommended Reading authors at WORD, our partner bookseller.