Warren Wilson faculty member Dean Bakopoulos‘ short story “Fall” appears online at The L Magazine:

That autumn, Charlie Theopolis and his wife Wendy Kim had both turned thirty-three and, quietly, they entered a new phase in their lives, one in which they both grew sick of everything—their apartment, their jobs, their clothes, each other. They blamed the city for their sickness: the stink of the subway, the gum on their shoes, the exorbitant cost of preschool and good produce, the germ-soaked vapors shimmering off the filthy sidewalks, and the fact that their dog had no good place to defecate. Charlie swore that he was starting to lose his hair because of the city. Wendy could not sleep and suffered from constant heartburn if she ate dinner after five o’clock. Their son Wilson, aged two, had developed a dairy allergy and a fear of sirens, and he woke up many times a night, shouting and crying over a passing ambulance or an errant car alarm. Even Lucky the Dog seemed afflicted. He had a dry, flaky coat and a bad hip...[Keep Reading]…

Dean is the author of the novel My American Unhappiness (2012, Mariner Books).