Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Short Fiction

THE CLASSIFIEDS

There’s an odd pleasure to be had reading through the classified ads listing used goods for sale. This image shows two bicycle wheels for sale, depicted as if seen through a peephole. This is, undeniably, a form of voyeurism, but it’s a metaphysical kind: shown like this, these bicycle wheels and all the other everyday objects—especially furniture, ornaments, and clothes—seem to belong to another dimension, to a life beyond this life. Sure, each ad ends with a telephone number, but somehow we already know that no matter how much we might wish otherwise, the number will always ring off the hook.

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