Late Breakfast
I don’t know what this adds up to exactly, but eating depresses me. It doesn’t depress me because it makes me sad, though. It depresses me when it makes me happy. Like, “Damn this egg sandwich…
Tom Dibblee
Tom Dibblee is Trop’s editor. His fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train and his nonfiction has appeared in Pacific Standard, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Point. He lives in Los Angeles.
Attitude of Gratitude
I was eating breakfast alone, at the counter, at the Route 101 Coffee Shop on Franklin, where they filmed a scene from Swingers. A woman took the stool beside me. She had on a round brimmed felt…
Acquaintance
It was nine on Sunday morning as I crossed through the slots in the Monte Carlo, on my way to the food court Starbucks. Las Vegas had taken its toll, and I needed provisions: coffee, water,…
Study Group
I’m sitting here in the Claremont Colleges’ library, confronted with a distinctly collegiate conversation. It’s two girls: one pretty and husky voiced, the other plain and young sounding. They are, ostensibly, studying together. But the husky…
Accident
I just witnessed a gruesome accident at Franklin and Wilton in East Hollywood. I was heading north, crossing Franklin, in the crosswalk barely behind an older woman in a purple jumpsuit. A PT Cruiser with used…