SCAN MAGAZINE SPRING 2021
AFTER ALL
AN ANGEL, A DEMON, A GIRL, A VAMPIRE AND AN ACTOR WALK INTO A BAR ... (short story) Written by Rachel Carp Illustrated by Don Tang
Goddamn The angel Sandalphon decided he’d heard enough. He was reclining on a motel bed, tearing into a box of powdered donuts, when he caught on TV a man acquitting a criminal. Sandalphon dusted donut powder off his complimentary robe and listened for a prayer. He heard none but choked on his donut when the same man who’d acquitted the criminal later affirmed his guilt. “Godda —”
A Mediocre Start for a Day in Human History The end of the world was on a Tuesday. The time was 11:01 a.m, though nobody recorded it.
Lily was starting a new project. An award-winning performance with costumes designed by her, songs written by her and A-listers cast by her, all drawn up in her mind as precisely and determinedly as her intention to abandon it. She worked as a barista, but she was going for the big leagues. It was a tradition among barista to have big ambitions, so they could keep working as baristas until they died or until, Heaven allows, everybody else died. “I’m not tired,” Lily mumbled, bobbing her head up and down as she cut out pages from a Vogue magazine and blasted the TV. “The Ulcer” was on, a medical show about doctors making out in supply closets that only seemed to lock when there were no keys to open them.
