Ants by Lindsey Gates Markel art by Genevieve Anna Tyrrell Off work first and alone, I smoke cigarettes and read in the neighbor's yard in the afternoons, sitting on a railroad tie next to the garden. In spring, it was just a rectangle of dry dirt but now it's August and the whole thing is green and wet, full of fruit and spiders. Nobody knows I'm there and there are no fences keeping me out. I read a few pages and then I stare into the tangles of plants. I ash my cigarette into the grass and wonder if anyone will notice it there, if squirrels taste it and stain their teeth, if ants lift it over their black heads and heave it home to the anthill. It took me weeks to notice the ants but when I look at the railroad tie I see them everywhere, lines spreading around me like a spilled drink. I roll my eyes at them, like Lighten up, you guys, their old-fashioned dedication to labor. I work at a desk in an office where no one speaks because silence is better for concentration. When I go into my house I will turn the bottle of Febreze on myself and pull the blue trigger, feel the cold chemical spray, smell sweet and clean. More and more, I have fantasies of stomping people's heads beneath my feet. I'll drink a cold glass of water, wash my mouth out, stand in front of an open window, and halfway through dinner I'll be listening to a story about my husband's office where people share lunch together in the break room, realize I've lifted my knuckles to my face to smell the tobacco and tar of the skin there. If I get cancer, he will weep and say I told you so and not understand that I had no choice, that there wasn't even a fence. An ant will cling to me 'til bed, rummage beneath my fingernail for scraps. Read the interview. Lindsey Gates Markel earned an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA and has done graduate fiction work at the Iowa Writers Workshop. Her thesis featured recurring themes of cats and nipples (but not cat nipples). She is the author of You Are Among Friends, a book of advice for young gals, and her short fiction has previously appeared in Storychord, Bluestem, and Necessary Fiction. Genevieve Anna Tyrrell is a creative writing MFA candidate at the University of Central Florida. She holds a bachelor's degree in film and a graphic design certificate. Currently, she is working on a memoir that reflects on the struggles between building a career identity while denying the chronically ill self. Her investigation into this dichotomy was the driving force behind her lecture on "Dexter" at the 2011 PCAS/ ACAS conference in New Orleans. She is always on the hunt for inventive ways to include visual art into her writing, and plans on incorporating graphic narrative in her memoir. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2013 by its authors. Issue Thirty-Seven (September 24, 2012): Two Boyfriends by Simon Barker «» Two Days in American History by Patrick Allen Carberry «» What I Told God by Sarah Carson «» Partners by Simon Jacobs «» Wreck by Will Kaufman «» Keep It Down by Harry Leeds «» Ants by Lindsey Gates Markel «» Quantifiable Consequence by Adam Padgett «» The Temperature At Which Paper Burns by Young Rader «» Bad Traffic by Matt Rowan «» Clearings by Joseph Spece «» Texas Vs. London by Jon Steinhagen «» Clichés by Aaron Teel «» When I Was Twenty-Three by Dan Townsend «» Revived by Eugenio Volpe «» Jalapeno Summer by Ryan Werner «» A Collector by Bess Winter «» Interviews: Simon Barker «» Patrick Allen Carberry «» Sarah Carson «» Simon Jacobs «» Will Kaufman «» Harry Leeds «» Lindsey Gates Markel «» Adam Padgett «» Young Rader «» Matt Rowan «» Joseph Spece «» Jon Steinhagen «» Aaron Teel «» Dan Townsend «» Eugenio Volpe «» Ryan Werner «» Bess Winter «» Cover Art by Jennifer B. Hudson «» 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.