REAL ROCK HOUNDS

by Brett Biebel

We found a couple of rocks in the woods, and they looked extraterrestrial. They were pockmarked and glowed in the dark, and Lambeau wanted to keep them in his basement, under these wine glasses he got for his wedding, but I said no. I said, something magic like this deserves an audience, a real second look, and when that asshole from the college told us they were nothing special really, maybe syenite or sodalite, and you see it up near Duluth all the time (something about lakes, something about something), I told him to fuck off, and Lambeau hocked a loogy on this guy’s glasses, and you could see these thick brown flecks like sticking to the frame, and then we both ran out of there rocks in hand. We still bring ‘em out at poker games. When the kids come by with their friends. We lay in our mud and grab black lights, and everyone drinks and catches the shine, and you can see in their faces how that shit ain’t normal. That shit is fucking wonderful, and ain’t no dickbag professor ever gonna tell us anything less.

About the Author:

Brett Biebel is the author of 48 Blitz (Split/Lip Press), a collection of short stories set in Nebraska. His fiction has been anthologized by Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction.

About the Artist:

At the present time Kateryna Bortsova is a painter / graphic artist with a BFA in graphic arts and an MFA. Works of Kateryna took part in many international exhibitions (Taiwan, Berlin, Munich, Spain, Italy, USA etc.). She also won the silver medal in the category “realism” in the “Factory of visual art”, New York, USA and the 2015 Emirates Skywards Art of Travel competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.