The Mystery of Water by Zin Kenter art by Brandon Wicks He washes his hands as he has a thousand, hundred thousand times before, but this time wonders: where does the water come from, where does it go? Oh, it comes from the reservoir, of course, and goes to the sewer, but he wonders about the exact why and how of it: at this moment with his children tucked into bed and his wife in the den filing his doctor's bill (punch biopsy, level 3 cytology, $3500,) it seems very important, this mystery of water. An in pipe, an out pipe, hidden by the vanity? He is an insurance actuary, what does he know about plumbing, but he knows he'd paid for a vanity, not sure what it was (of course he knew about vanity, but a vanity, a bathroom vanity, stumped him, in the same way "pagetoid spread" sounded like something from a magazine, perhaps a pictorial in Newsweek, instead of a diagnosis) but he'd learned about bathroom vanities and now he rocks the wood stand to see if it will pull away from the wall, revealing the pipes, but it holds fast. He kneels and opens the vanity door, pulls out toilet paper and boxes of Band-Aids and an enema (an enema?) and a box of feminine hygiene something he doesn't want to know about, and he finds a pipe at last, this is where the water either comes from or goes, but he does not know which, and there, knees aching against the cold tile, he cries because he will never know. Read the interview. Zin Kenter lives in Maine and loves to play with words, sentences, stories, fairy tales, poems, songs. Bios, not so much. Zin loves to sing—music plus words, what could be better? Brandon Wicks is a staff editor for SmokeLong and a freelance writer and illustrator based in Atlanta, Georgia. His fiction has appeared in such journals as Sou'wester and South Carolina Review; his poetry in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume II: Mississippi. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2012 by its authors. Issue Thirty-One (March 28, 2011): Kapha by Joanne Avallon «» Wound Glue by Michael Cooper «» Natural by Julie Draper «» Everyday There is So Much about Elephants by Timothy Gager «» Renewables by Abe Gaustad «» We Walk Away, the Three of Us by Tracy Gonzalez «» Other Sons by Casey Hannan «» The Mystery of Water by Zin Kenter «» The Lives of Alligators by Robert Kloss «» A Turkey Baster Is Just Like a Penis by Rachel Levy «» Three Bodies by Mike Meginnis «» God, Two Girls by Adeena Reitberger «» Gestures by Megan Roberts «» Moons by Ethel Rohan «» The Man with the Ridiculously Huge Coupon by Rolli «» A Walk in the Woods by Robert Schladale «» The Way We Speak Now by Angi Becker Stevens «» Interviews: Joanne Avallon «» Michael Cooper «» Julie Draper «» Timothy Gager «» Abe Gaustad «» Tracy Gonzalez «» Casey Hannan «» Zin Kenter «» Robert Kloss «» Rachel Levy «» Mike Meginnis «» Adeena Reitberger «» Megan Roberts «» Ethel Rohan «» Rolli «» Robert Schladale «» Angi Becker Stevens «» Cover Art "Lady Gaga Dada" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editors 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.