Liars' League NYC

King of the World by Jackie Reitzes

 

King of the World read by Virginia Bosch

There are 13 of us at the lake-house that weekend, no parents, no teachers. It is after the last day of high school but before graduation. We’re out on a motorboat on a lake—my friends and I, six boys and seven girls, the girls in J.Crew two-pieces, the boys in surfer trunks, and the sky is gray.

 

Makin' It by Ben Compton

 

Makin It read by Jonathan Harford

I was brought in originally as a temp, my first real job in the city.  It was my responsibility to answer mail, make sure his bills were paid, roll calls, etc. This was way back before most people had cell phones or e-mail, so any time my boss got an important message from a head of state or the Commissioner or someone like that, I’d have to go out on the roof and use the flood light to project the message into the sky.  Things got so much easier after we got a sponsorship from a cell phone company. And when they invented text messaging? Forget about it. A gift from the gods.

 

Night Vision by Jeanette Topar

 

Night Vision read by Denise Poirier

The sun hadn’t shone for weeks; it made Mona edgy. Every day since the beginning of June had threatened rain, but rain never came. Just clouds. Her husband, unlike Mona, didn’t get down about insubstantial things like cloudy days. “But doesn’t it bother you?” she asked, knowing it was useless to prod Wayne.

 

“It’s weather,” he said, as they drove home from the mall. “Beyond our control, so why worry?”

A Wake of Buzzards by Mike Dressel

Wake of Buzzards read by Jere Williams

On their third day of sharing the barn, the buzzard brought Kenny a present: a small mangled carcass.

Kenny had taken up residence in the hay loft of the decrepit structure after being kicked out of his girlfriend Trudy’s apartment. Which came on the morning of him losing his job. Which was the result of his driving the delivery van, at that particular moment containing the floral arrangements for a well-heeled customer’s silver anniversary party, while intoxicated. Though Kenny would argue he was only under the residual influence of the beers he'd been drinking the night before, neglecting to mention or possibly remember the tall boy he'd gulped in the parking lot before getting behind the wheel.

Gonna by Brady Huggett

Gonna read by Amanda Renee Baker

At once the city’s countless, soaring buildings grew oppressive, and it seemed they mixed with the cobalt sky to press her down.  In her apartment, on the train, sitting at her job, walking her small dog in the park – they were always above her, and their weight left her tired.

So tired it felt to her she might be dying.  I have to get out of here, she thought.  I have to get someplace more open, find some great expanse, where things can just float up and away.  Then I might be able to do that, too.