Hell is a Headline by Emily McPhillips art by Robinson Accola Darren and Yousef both held the job of handing out the free, regional-daily newspaper to the people partaking in Manchester's early morning work-commute-dash. There was a perimeter to the area which they could work from (they had their patch, and others theirs—it was a job that established territory, and emotional politics with it, and sometimes employees would become attached to their patch, easily—it often happened, so when things were sometimes mixed up, by the head honcho, the powers at be, and patches switched round—people could often be left pining for the good old days of much sought after patches, like say the patch at Exchange Square for example). Darren and Yousef's patch was inclusive of the popular stretch of Market Street, where the familiar retail names called out to buyers like good-time buddies, and the guys' patch ended where the escalator scaled up from the public walkway of Market Street, on in the direction of the Arndale Mall's food court, where you can pick yourself up a slice of pizza from as early as eight thirty in the morning; and this was just one of the perks that set big gleaming jewels in the crowns of cities across the country, and one of the reasons why Darren and Yousef liked their current patch so much. 'You wanna paper?' Yousef would ask the churn of people as they made their way past him. 'You take the paper!' Darren would tell people, and in their hand it'd go. They handed out newspapers, all day long, but they didn't read them; which subsequently meant that the pair of them had no idea what in God's name was going on in the world. 'Tell me something about the news?' A blind woman asked them, and man, she had it all going on (blind aid wise) she had: the dog, the cane, even those thick black visor glasses that surely make a person even blinder?—(the woman was disadvantaged to the bone) 'It's hell out there darlin' Said Darren to the woman, and Yousef agreed, and sure enough, it probably was hell out there; yet she took a paper any way, for want of hell's proof, or maybe just to line her cat's litter tray with; and when her nose itched, just as it did now, she scratched it with her long nails and her newspaper print hands, the ones that took this old blind woman as base and camouflaged her in inked up media dirt, as she walked into a crowd of bastards, who barked more fiercely than the sound of her own guide dog, who barked hard for her right of passage, through the swells of bad moods and corporate hairdos, that gave such mornings hellish edge. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2012 by its authors. Emily McPhillips was born in 1985. She lives in Manchester, England. Read the interview. Robinson Accola creates artwork for SmokeLong Quarterly as needed. Issue Twenty-Eight (July 25, 2010): Young Waitresses by Steve Almond «» Frank by Matt Baker «» The Life and Times of Dmitri Kulikov by Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Scapegoat by Thomas Cooper «» What You Could Catch Me Bumping by Craig Davis «» Complicit by Gay Degani «» What You See When You Think of Home by John Mark DeMoss «» In the Attic by Murray Dunlap «» A Flower Thing by Jen Gann «» Seahorse Sex by Molly Giles «» Gertie by Kyle Hemmings «» Vertigo by Ann Hillesland «» Rock by Stephanie Johnson «» A Shot of Whatever by David LaBounty «» Palo Alto by Paul Lisicky «» The Lake House by Michelle McMahon «» Hell Is a Headline by Emily McPhillips «» How I Liked the Avocados by Wendy Oleson «» Regrets by Bridget Pelkie «» What Passes for Normal by Michelle Reale «» Avalanche by Joseph Scapellato «» Last Seen Leaving by Laura Ellen Scott «» Explicable by Sabrina Stoessinger «» A Fistful of Buttercups by Nancy Stebbins «» My Maggie by Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» The Ghost by Russell Whitaker «» The Strain of Collusion by xTx «» Interviews: Steve Almond «» Matt Baker «» Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Thomas Cooper «» Craig Davis «» Gay Degani «» John Mark DeMoss «» Murray Dunlap «» Jen Gann «» Molly Giles «» Kyle Hemmings «» Ann Hillesland «» Stephanie Johnson «» David LaBounty «» Michelle McMahon «» Emily McPhillips «» Wendy Oleson «» Bridget Pelkie «» Michelle Reale «» Joseph Scapellato «» Laura Ellen Scott «» Nancy Stebbins «» Sabrina Stoessinger «» Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» xTx «» Cover Art "Wall Street Must Be Tripping" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.