Appetites by Kathryn Chetkovich

Appetites is written about hungers of the flesh. Its plot is similar to that of Meg Mullins' short story The Rug.

This is about a girl who is trying to find a place to live. She tells of her next door neighbors: "Next door were three children who all seemed to be at the loudest possible age, and their voices alive with the sound of killing each other." She discovers an ad in the paper one day and everyone agrees that she can move in. The tone of the narrator takes on an almost gay tone as she meets "the most attractive woman [she] had ever seen."

Some of the lines of this story are just good: "She looked like someone whose job, once you're dead, is to introduce you to God." ... "The only piece of furniture in the whole place that could not be moved by a couple of women with a hatchback was a baby grand piano, gleaming like a casket." The narrator, speaking of herself and her boyfriend says "We didn't really look alike, but you'd describe us with the same words on a driver's license: brown, brown, corrective lenses."

Faith seems to have it all which the narrator wishes she could have too. Faith's boyfriend brings over some rat poison to get rid of their infestation. They set a trap as well. Later in the week, a boy named Clark, who the narrator has a crush on visits for dinner. They all share their talents wanting to impress the others. The narrator shares hers and they exclaim "You never told us that!" She replies: "'Oh, the things I haven't told you.' And then it occurred to me that I might be able to pass the truth, like a painful kidney stone, through this stream of inconsequential lies."