Contorted

“OK, we’re here,” the clown announced, seemingly to his suitcase, as he set it down next to a hole in the ground. One by one the other members of the funeral procession arrived at the gravesite. Clément and I scuttled into the nearby bushes.

The suitcase fell over, opened itself, and a tiny Chinese girl unfolded herself from within it.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said to the clown as she bent forward at the waist, hooked her elbows around her ankles, and stretched. Then she stood up, threw her thin arms to the heavens and, bending backward, placed her palms on the still-steaming ground. She wore a sparkly blue swimsuit and was only around four feet tall, though she looked even shorter next to the huge man who’d been carrying her around in the suitcase.

The clown nodded and stepped to the elephant’s rear. He untied the litter, lifted the casket, and let it drop with a thud to the earth.

“This coffin business, what a chore,” he complained.”

—From “Serendipity,” between the DEAD LOVE covers. (more in from this selection at a later date in “Chapters”)

Want to read more? You can pre-order DEAD LOVE here.

For a look at what Blossom can do … and it’s extraordinary, check out this moldy oldy. But the fun doesn’t begin until one minute in so you might want to start your viewing there!

—Erin Orison, DEAD LOVE/the Daily Slice