Scuba

On the subway at 3 a.m. across from me a fat man in a neon yellow and red Hawaiian shirt sits down adjusting his navy suit pants and black loafers. He opens his shirt to scratch gray chest hair. It is only then I realize he is holding a copy of Scuba Diving for Dummies.

What this man’s dreams must be like.

Joseph Riippi was born in Seattle but lives in New York City. A graduate student in creative writing at the City College of New York, he works as an advertising copywriter and the Arts & Opinion Editor of Beyond Race Magazine. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Salamander, The Ink-Filled Page, and others. In 2007, he won the Farmhouse Magazine Award for Fiction.