At his home in the Trinity Mountains, Ander and Mariam live together on the second floor of a long, raised ranch house that he designed himself. The bottom floor holds a mechanic shop on one side where he fixes up old cars and motorcycles. The walls are papered in old calendars, women in bikinis for Honda. Women in bikinis for Pennzoil. On the other end of the building Mariam runs her beauty salon. The scents of motor oil blend with perm solution, an olfactory spectrum of gender identity. Right in the middle, where the cloud is thickest, Ander installed a stone fountain. Men build things.
Originally published as “Tahoe,” November 2022 in december, Volume 33.2. Nominated for a Pushcart prize.
Jacob Aiello 
Leave a comment