‘The Light Pool’ by Mitchell Toews

Outliers

From Pulp Literature Issue 48, find an author who is familiar to the pages of Pulp Literature, and read an excerpt of ‘The Light Pool’ by Mitchell Toews. To get the rest of this story, be sure to pick up a copy of Issue 48, Autumn 2025!

The Light Pool

by Mitchell Toews

I was in Toronto for training with my boss, Maddox Jarvis. She was a rising leader in the company, favoured for the Western Canadian Director position. Originally from Toronto, she suggested I accompany her to a party that evening. “I’ll introduce you to a few friends. We’ll have a drink and leave early.”

The low house was distanced from the street and shone like a ship at sea as we crossed the baize lawn, close-mown and fragrant. Guests, I supposed, were old-money chums from this stone-fence neighbourhood in exclusive Rosedale. I was an awkward outlier to this clique — a young rustic from a backwater somewhere out west. As the evening progressed and the beer I had insisted on bringing sat unopened, the long knives came out. (“Look, everyone, a six-pack!”)

My many small social miscues accumulated, and I felt like Tarzan in the Royal Albert Hall — a mildly entertaining distraction.

My urge to push back finally won out, and I didn’t care if I confirmed their conceits. Were they condescending snobs, or was I just too brittle? Either way, I let old resentments steer me and became abrasive. I was saved from challenging the whole living room to a fight only by their growing lack of interest. Maddox watched me while she caught up with her friends. Her nervous hands spun an empty wine glass on the table in front of her as I burned my bridges, if not hers.

An attractive woman named Taylor made neutral conversation with me not long after I started my retaliation. She spoke to me quietly and looked into my eyes as I answered her questions. I felt unexpectedly befriended by one of those I was insulting. Maddox kept her distance, watching but avoiding my gaze.

A few minutes later, Taylor found me again and asked if I needed a ride; my hotel was on her way home. I looked at Maddox, who mouthed, See you, and shouldered her purse.

As I stepped into the car, I expected meaningless small talk. Uncertain, I waited for Taylor’s lead.

“You know, you misread the circumstances.”

I sniffed and looked down at my phone.

“Seriously,” she continued. “We were teasing Maddox because she had warned us not to make you feel uncomfortable.” She swung her hair and gave me a frank stare as we passed under a row of blue-tinted streetlights. “We would’ve backed off, but you can hardly blame us for continuing. You asked for it.”

Find the full story in Pulp Literature Issue 48, Autumn 2025

Mitchell Toews is a Canadian writer with a strong periodical publishing and literary contest history. His collection of short stories, Pinching Zwieback (At Bay Press, 2023), was met with widespread critical acclaim and earned a place on several bestseller lists. A novel in the author’s gritty style, revisiting themes like belonging and overcoming adversity, is forthcoming in 2026. His work can be found in Pulp Literature issues 20, 27, and 38. A longer version of this story first appeared in 2016 in the Spanish-language publication Lingo. It was presented in Spanish and formal Ogden Basic English as a language learning tool for the site’s online subscribers. Mitch and his wife, Janice, live in the boreal forest where they “drink deeply of the wild air.”