The Flora & Fauna of Transgressive, Balls-to-the-Wall Tableaus
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Without delay, Arlene scooped some of the treat into her mouth, afterwards licking her lower lip to prevent a slow, thick drop from reaching her chin. That accomplished, she replaced the spoon in the glass and turned her eyes up to Nash, who was currently facing away from her. “Agh,” she said, the words she’d planned on communicating having gotten caught in the back of her throat. Never one to give up at the first sign of trouble, she took a deep breath. Then she looked over at a couple of elderly, male customers — they were sitting at the other end of the counter from her — making sure they’d be out of earshot as long as she kept her voice down. It seemed to her that they would be. “Guess what?” she finally got out. She was nervously swinging her feet back and forth, an exercise that was causing the toes of her pumps to occasionally bump against the counter wall’s bargain-basement wood paneling. She’d actually taken the first step, opening the talking point that had been on her mind for the past three months. It wasn’t too late to turn back, of course, but she knew full well that she wasn’t going to. Saying “Guess what?” had gotten her fired up like a race car, and although it felt like there was a swarm of butterflies darting around in her stomach, treating her spine, intestines, liver, fat cells, kidneys, and bladder like they were all part of an elaborate, organic pinball machine, nothing was going to stop her now. The fact that she knew nothing was going to stop her now was precisely the reason for both her nervousness and excitement. Nash turned around and planted his hands on the edge of the counter. “Hmm,” he breathed. “I’ve been thinking about cutting off my thumb,” Arlene said, her voice crisp, buoyant, and full of conviction. Nash slitted his eyes. “Come again?” “I-I said I’ve been thinking … about cutting off … my thumb,” she squeaked, vexed by how much less poised and decisive she seemed the second time around. “What, are you serious?” Oh, shit. I should’ve eased into it more gradually. Blurting it out like that probably shocked him, and that’s no good. Shock could cause him to blow things out of proportion, and if he blows things out of proportion, he might feel inclined to shed the role of dispassionate listener, ruining everything by calling my parents and telling them what I’m planning to do. Not good, Arlene. Not. Good. At. All. “Yes,” she said, blushing. “I’m dead serious.” The idea of cutting off her thumb seemed so much more bizarre to her now, upon verbalizing it in front of another person, than it had before, when she’d still been relegating it to a mere thought in her head. It was like a dream that had made perfect sense when she was still having it, but which had lost all coherency the minute she’d woken up and attempted to mentally recapitulate it. Nash made a face, then shook his head with unalloyed bewilderment. “Why?” he wanted to know.
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THE FLORA & FAUNA OF TRANSGRESSIVE, BALLS-TO-THE-WALL TABLEAUS is author Jeffrey Stoker’s fourth book. Personal and filled to the brim with pathos, it comprises two novellas, both of them struggling-artist-themed, and both of them wholly unpredictable. The first novella in the rotation, “The Dichotomous Epiphany,” falls squarely under the Psychological Horror subgenre. Set in the early 1990s — Stoker wrote the novella between the years 1995 and 2000; however, due to the S&M overtones inherent in its pages, he sheepishly held off publishing it until 2024 — it centers on Arlene Phillips, an ambitious, unconventional teenager living in a small, hopelessly conventional Utah town. For years, Arlene has dreamed of nothing more than becoming a world-renowned artist. Unfortunately, most of the drawings and paintings she’s produced thus far in her life have failed to meet her expectations. Now, as the sun begins to set on her high school career, the teen, desperate to prepare herself for college, devises a plan to enhance her visual-composition skills. The rub is that carrying out this plan will come at an incredibly high price. Moreover, there’s no guarantee that the plan will even work. The second novella in the book, a comedy-drama titled “Port Wine Stain, Animated,” represents Stoker at his sardonic best. Here we follow the exploits of Thad Wakefield, an aspiring writer who’s on the autism spectrum. Despite the compulsions, tics, and fears that govern Thad’s day-to-day routine, he’s generally a productive, optimistic individual. And why not? He has a beautiful wife who’s supportive to a fault, a pet armadillo that never ceases to amuse him, and a compassionate therapist who’s dedicated to solving as many of his psychological hang-ups as possible. In short, life is good. Until it isn’t. One day, for reasons far too complicated to go into here, Thad hits a stumbling block in the editing phase of his debut novel. How he chooses to meet this challenge, and the emotionally-draining path this choice ultimately leads him down, is something that even the sharpest of readers won’t see coming.