by Sam Leuenberger

I used to work for Werner Ladders, in Greenville, but as you know, they don’t make ladders in Greenville anymore. They make them in China or Mexico. Who knows. Maybe they don’t even make ladders in China anymore. Maybe the last ladder made in China has already been made. Or maybe the last ladder made in China was not even made in China. Maybe it was made in Mexico by Chinese refugees who fled their homeland to follow ladders. I doubt that, but who knows. The last ladder made in China is probably the last ladder that will ever be made on earth. That probably doesn’t make the most sense from a Biblical perspective, but God works in mysterious ways. Besides, we all know, not every page of the Bible was written in stone. Just a few verses. Mainly the Moses part. All we really know, at this point, about the future of ladders, is based on what Borough Council chooses to tell us, which is that the last ladder ever made has already been made by God, in Heaven. Which I doubt, but who knows. All I really know is, the last ladder I ever made is at the bottom of the ocean, next to the Titanic, next to Harry Houdini, who’s wrapped in chains and sitting in a lawn chair. I kid you not. Houdini and Jesus are down there, together. They’re having a little friendly competition. Who can hold their breath the longest? They’ve been going at it, back-to-back, for more than ninety years now. That’s where the last ladder I ever made ended up. Among fishes and magicians, babysitting the end of time.

Sam Leuenberger’s fiction and poetry has appeared in Cutbank, The Spectacle, The Collagist, After Happy Hour Review, Kallisto Gaia Press, Timber, The Gravity of the Thing, and Glint. His short-story “Puzzle” was nominated for the Best of the Net 2017.