One night I dreamt that trains were free to roam anywhere the wind took them, like people, no longer bound to their tracks. Some trains decided they want to live on the second story, in someone's attic. Some realized they had always wanted to be fireplaces, and came crashing down people's chimneys. Others learned to be cars, and some began going to church every Sunday, and then meeting afterward at a diner for coffee.

Needless to say, everything was ruined, because trains are large and very destructive. Everywhere there were fires and debris and stranded travellers and horrible accidents.

I woke up almost crying, so relieved that trains, indeed, stay on their tracks.

Five-year-old Thomas was terrified that at night, when his parents went to bed, a gigantic fox came out of hiding and sat next to the city, keeping watch.

In his mind the fox was as big as the city itself, and had no qualms about eating everyone and everything in it.

'Then why doesn't it?' asked Thomas's father. 'Eat the whole city, I mean.'

He doesn't want to, Thomas answered. He doesn't like the taste of people.

'So why are you scared?' asked his mother.

Because he still could, said Thomas.

'Where is the fox now?' they asked.

I don't know. I can't see him.

'You can't?'

No. He's invisible.

'So what makes you think he's there?'

Thomas could not answer this, but he also could not sleep. His parents soon learned that it is impossilbe to disprove the existence of a giant, invisible, harmless fox to a five-year-old.

Types of Phones

1. Some phones are asymmetrical, like old couches or broken things. To dial, you have to keep your hand to the far right, where the buttons are.

Use this phone to call people you don't know very well, or when you're calling someone you do know but aren't sure how long you'll talk to them.

2. Some phones are red. These are the most polarizing kinds of phones, because they are either bright and cheery or bloodlike and scary. Either way, they'll add a bit of red to the room.

Call your relatives on this phone. They'll thank you for it.

3. Some phones are off the hook. This is when they are being used, or on an uneven surface. If you are already using this phone, carry on. If not, stay away.

4. Some phones have both straight and curved lines. On this phone, feel free to call your spouse or lover, just to say hello.

5. Some phones are very strange. Take this one, for example: olive green, and longer than it is tall, with a cross-hatching pattern on the front. Use this phone for emergencies only: you never know who, or what, you will call.

The Feathered Man

Through the crowd I saw a flash of purple; it streaked toward the door, through a curtained threshold and over the stage before it disappeared. Around me the dancers danced in black and white; feathered masks covered their eyes, and I saw no one I recognized. Under a lamp the record player skipped.

I followed; as I broke out of the crowd the door swung shut. Down the hall I was directed to the roof, where the air was still. ‘Where is she?’ I called out; above, the sky was a black dome with a single pinprick instead of stars.

‘There’s been no one out here all night,’ said a man in a bird mask, standing next to two women by the edge. In their hands they held cigarettes and glasses of red liquid.

What kind of place is this? Is there is a world below the roof’s edge, or are these feathered few all that’s left?