Hunter Goddard realized he needed to change his name. No one—absolutely no one—could be successful in the porn business with a WASPy name like that. His wife suggested, “Power Hips,” but he preferred something a little more ethnic, like “Max Epstein,” or maybe something slightly tongue-in-cheek, like “Buster Ketone,” something he could, at least, have printed on his credit card and used at the supermarket, without eliciting the kind of gawking stares and silly titters that a typical porno stage name invoked in the checkout line at the Sherman Oaks Safeway.
“Or, how about ‘Moe Blow?'” his wife added, persistently, although unhelpfully, trying to be helpful.
As the glittering, late afternoon sun sank behind the peaks of the Verdugo Mountains, like a dangling gold cross disappearing between tan cleavage, Hunter knew that Peggy wouldn’t last a year as the wife of successful porn actor. He looked lovingly at Peggy across the kitchen table, smiled warmly into her eyes, and thought, She’ll have to go.
Brad Rose was born and raised in southern California, and lives in Boston. Brad’s poetry and fiction have appeared in: The Baltimore Review, Off the Coast, Third Wednesday, The Potomac, San Pedro River Review, Santa Fe Literary Review, Barely South Review, Right Hand Pointing, Sleet, Boston Literary Magazine, Monkeybicycle, Camroc Press Review, Short, Fast, and Deadly, and other publications. Links to his poetry and fiction can be found at: http://bradrosepoetry.blogspot.com. His chapbook of miniature fiction, Coyotes Circle the Party Store, can be read at https://sites.google.com/site/bradroserhpchapbook. Audio recordings of a selection of Brad’s published poetry can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/bradrose1.
Eunoia Review 