The Comptroller, Ms. Ling, stood up, as she often did for emphasis. “As a woman it is best for me, I think, to make this presentation.” Only briefly glancing at her notes, she said, “The ‘Mailgirls’ program has been tried with a surprising degree of success at American corporations. There is no denying the benefits of having a dedicated cadre of messengers within a building, or within a complex. As far as the, uh, nudity aspect of it, clothes just get in the way. Once th

The mood at the service is gloomy, what with the news that the man in Leavenworth will need papers showing that the family of schwärtzen are freedmen before he can accept them. Evidently the authorities there are being strict with the Fugitive Slave Law. The family has made it to Kansas, by unknown means, but is currently hiding in a barn, risking capture and return. Meanwhile the necessary papers have been obtained, but how to get them to the man in Leavenworth? The Miss

Angela was more or less a spectator as the three young men talked about classes, professors, the food, and new places they had discovered on campus or in town. Angela, a senior, already had experienced some of these professors and other things but didn’t chime in. She was not unattractive and knew herself being glanced at now and then by Kai-Kai’s friends. She also knew her presence was putting a damper on the conversation. Without her, Phil and Duvon would probably be talkin

“Sorry, Ethel, but I dropped it last week when I had my head out the window up there, trying to push snow down.” Old Mr. Johnstone is explaining why his snow shovel is lying up on the roof, just short of the eave. Only the outline of it is visible, under this morning’s flurry. “I told him,” Mrs. Johnstone says, “‘Tom, you’re too old to be doing that. Get one of the Marston boys.’” The Marstons live on the other side. That’s not an option now, during school hours. Ethel

Taking a flashlight out of the drawer, Dr. Congi bent down and looked straight up inside Tami. Tami could swear she could feel the heat of the light as it crept like a searchlight along her insides. “Tami, you have a beautiful cervix!” Dr. Congi exclaimed brightly. Somebody giggled. Responding to this, she said, “She does!” Standing up again, Dr. Congi said, “I’d like you all to look at the inside of Tami’s vagina. Refer to this poster first. You can easily make out th

He watched with me as I slowly leafed through. These were indeed strange designs, half-shirt, half-skirt, or half-gloves, half-sweater, and half-hat, half-I-don’t-know-what. There were very few skimpy designs. Almost all seemed to afford full coverage and warmth. Warmth seemed like the main emphasis. Maybe it was due to Tami Smithers’s influence that women, especially, had been covering up more in recent years. As I got to page 37, near the end, he said, “Footwear has