Skip to Content
Fiction

Crumbling… ~ Part 9

5:57 AM PDT on July 30, 2008

Rodger Jacob's noir parody serial enters the final two thrilling episodes!

It was then that the ground trembled with a vengeance. At first I heard a loud slam that I mistook for the steel loading ramp of a delivery truck smacking the asphalt. You’re familiar with that sound, right? But there was no delivery truck in sight and suddenly the sky itself began to shake or perhaps it was the ground below my feet that had suddenly abandoned all natural laws and began churning like quicksand. It was an earthquake, alright, one mother of a shaker that would bring down the rafters of the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel, killing my girl Zivi in the process, but I would only learn this way after the fact, after my own body was laid out on a slab in the L.A. morgue with a bunch of other stiffs who suddenly got chatty. They knew all about Zivi. They knew all about me, more maybe than I knew about myself. Did you know, for instance, that I was a cop? A narcotics agent, I’ve been told. And that girl in the bar? The one who caused all of this ruckus in the first place? Well, she was a quarry of mine and I had her cornered like a canary in a coal mine until she slipped a hallucinogenic compound in my cocktail while I had my eyes trained on the black midget and the tall albino, all dead now at the hands of the man wielding the killer typewriter.

Or were they real at all?

The earthquake. That’s the only thing that’s certain. The earthquake had really happened.

Previously...

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More Stories

Sunday Taquitos #33: One of the Good Ones (Plus Bonus Taquito!)

Sunday Taquitos! Art by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ivan Ehlers.

September 20, 2026

Try L.A. TACO’s New Beer, An ‘OG Kush’ and ’24K Gold’-Infused West Coast Pilsner, at Our Long Beach Release Party

On September 26th at ISM Brewing in Long Beach! With our new radically dank beer discounted for members! And a special menu collaboration with Sonoratown offering a Caesar salad topped with crispy tripitas a mahi-mahi fish taco on those famous flour tortillas.

September 18, 2026

Where to Find East African-Style Barbecue with Kenyan Flatbread This Weekend

Black tiger shrimp, rosemary lamb, and steak on stick from a cookbook author who celebrates her Kenyan and Nigerian heritage through cooking.

September 18, 2026

Subs on Subs: The 11 Best Sandwiches in L.A. According to Gimps and Submissives

We collected the data, ran the numbers, and let them out of their cages. These are their favorite things to eat between two pieces of bread in the city.

September 17, 2026

The City of L.A. Leads in One Thing: ICE Kidnappings

ICE is becoming quicker, sneakier, and targeting people as they go about their daily routines.

September 17, 2026

Could This Proposal Finally Put a Stop to Secret Deputy Gangs In the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department?

Since 1973, 27 gangs or subgroups have been identified through lawsuits and reports compiled by the department’s independent oversight bodies.

September 16, 2026