Tom Perrotta - Nine Inches

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The Leftovers

The Abstinence Teacher

Little Children

Joe College

Election

The Wishbones

Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies

Copyright © 2013 Tom Perrotta

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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First published in the United States of America by St. Martin’s Press.

This edition published in 2013 by House of Anansi Press Inc.

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These short stories are works of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Some of the stories in this book appeared in the following publications:

“The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face” and “Nine Inches” in Post Road ; “The Chosen Girl” in Gettysburg Review ; “Kiddie Pool” in Best Life ; “Grade My Teacher” in Five Points .

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Perrotta, Tom, 1961–, author

Nine inches / Tom Perrotta.

Short stories.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77089-427-3 (pbk.). — ISBN 978-1-77089-428-0 (html)

I. Title.

PS3566.E6956N55 2013 813’.54 C2013-903639-3

C2013-903640-7

Cover design: James Iacobelli

We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.