for the 2006 Pushcart PrizeFallout - A novelette by Jacob AppelThe acute fear Maggie senses behind his jittery humor surprises her. It is she–not he–who should be traumatized: She was downtown renewing her driver’s license when the Trade Center crumbled; she was among the refugees who streamed aimlessly over the 59th Street Bridge. He was at his Jersey City office watching CNN. But three days into the tragedy, once they’ve checked that all of their friends are alive and she’s switched her radio from news back to Oldies, when she’s thinking that tonight they should try for a baby again, Frank returns from his office lugging three milk crates of books. He smiles with his lips but not his eyes. He says: “I just want to look into some things.” She remembers this phrase from his final months of law school, when he brought home the books on starting up a business. He’d read ravenously for several weeks and then predicted: “Well, darling, we’re going to be rich.”
