Beer Cans — By Quinn Adikes

artwork by Ciara Duffy

When somebody likes a band, they throw beer cans at them. I don’t know why. I guess it’s like burping to compliment the chef. The movies are never accurate: there are fewer mohawks, and nobody sniffs glue. Cocaine is different, but cocaine doesn’t phase me anymore. Somebody tells me that crack is just cocaine but better, another asks if I know where to find ketamine, another offers me a shot. It’s a Tuesday and I have work in the morning. I say yes to the shot. Every week after that, a friend of a friend dies. Then a friend dies. Then I find PUNX LIVE FOREVER sharpied on a toilet, like maybe if we put it in writing it will come true.

Quinn Adikes' fiction has appeared in Lit Hub, Five Points, Epiphany, ExPat Press, The Southampton Review, Shenandoah, and other journals. He Is the recipient of the Joseph Kelly Prize for Writing and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Quinn lives in Brooklyn and teaches at the Gotham Writers Workshop. he is writing a novel. You can find out more about Quinn Adikes at www.quinnadikes.me.