“Happy Holidays” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. There wasn’t a question of going or not going. Sally was committed to her career. The social end of it, no matter how heinous, was just a part of the job. Anyone in advertising knew the deal. […]

“The After-Life of a Defeated Politician” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. Three more boxes arrived Monday morning. Simone knocked on Cliff’s door and came in. Cliff signed for the purchases and smiled at her hoping she might stay. They’d had manic sex the night she’d arrived, but that […]

“The Ultimate American Beauty” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. Andrea shifted her American-Beauty sample case from her right shoulder to her left, which did not ache yet, and clicked the key fob to lock the company sedan.  Painted a soft yellow to offset the huge decals […]

“Living Off the Man” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. So the end of October came and went and Violet had not mailed a check. No one else in the building had, either, like they had all agreed. Oglethorpe would have to leave his perch down in […]

“Suburban Happy Hour” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. It’s not every day that a peeping Tom was actually named Tom. Isabella sashayed in front of the kitchen window, wearing hubby’s threadbare T-Shirt and nothing else. Alfie lounged, as usual, in the adjoining family room, the […]

“Scenes from an Open Marriage” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. Penelope At the start of Day Five, Henry says, “Pass the sugar, honey.” I’m momentarily dazed, by his endearment as much as by the lights from the cameras and so even with all of Sam’s promptings to […]

“Double the Psychosis” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. “Identicals running every goddamn event again. What is this crap? Even the nametags make us sound like half-wits. ‘Hi, my name is Lloyd, fraternal.’ Every time I turn it’s another soup can staring at me. ‘Hi, my […]

“Nothing But Up” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here.   “Baby, we need you. Your dad needs to be suctioned.” I blasted through the last of the pipe. Dad didn’t remember what happened. All we knew is that the ambulance, the cops and the fire truck […]

“Supernatural Tyranny of Artistic Subterfuge” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. They were sitting in the airport before she left. Serge was reciting some extremely bad poetry that he’d written in hopes that Joanne would fall in love with him and say, “Oh, yes, I’ve made a huge […]

“How My Family Tree Became an Exotic Forest” by Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet (AWP Version)

This is the latest in Meg Tuite’s Exquisite Quartet. To go to the column page, please click here. I cried when I found pictures from my years in prison. I closed the peeling lid of the box, but it was no use. My hands had no fingers, my teeth had become bone and grandpa’s face […]