The Box Top Man: A Short Story

A cocky ad exec gets his comeuppance when his wife wins a handyman in a cereal box contest. (Note: "The Box Top Man" is a short story. It is also available in the author's 10-story collection, Daggyland #2.)* * *Cal's got the sweetest life. A cushy career in advertising. The sweetest little wifey. The sweetest baby girl. And the sweetest spread in the sweetest suburb imaginable.Everything a guy could want. Except a Box Top Man.It's a gimmick the guys in the office palmed off on a big cereal company.If you send in your box tops and win the contest, you get an all-expenses-paid servant. To cook breakfast for the kids. To tidy up su casa. To fix every little thing around the house.Maid, chef, and handyman-all in one. You know-someone to stay at home with the wife and family when you're off making the big bucks.What could go wrong?Like Cheever gone from bad to worse, crime writer D'Agnese gives us a trippy fantasy that dwells in the realm of suburban surreal.* * *"D'Agnese writes the most unusual and interesting books." -Bookviews Joseph D'Agnese has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, This Old House, and many other publications. His science writing has been published extensively in Discover, Seed and Wired, and was twice named to the annual anthology, Best American Science Writing. His crime fiction has appeared in Shotgun Honey, Beat to a Pulp, Plots With Guns, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. One of his short stories won the 2015 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction, another was shortlisted for the 2014 Derringer Award, and a third was chosen by bestselling author James Patterson for the prestigious anthology, Best American Mystery Stories 2015.