by Michael C. Keith Everybody is dealt a hand of cards. It’s the way you choose to play them that matters. …
Fiction Posts
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
by Kathryn Brown Ramsperger 1946, Beirut. France grants Lebanon its independence. Today we are to go down to the water. Each trip is a special occasion. I can already feel the aquamarine surf as it breaks on the sand—not quite waves, more than placid ripples. It will hit my skinned…
The Fourth Husband
by Saramanda Swigart Julia used poison the first time. She’d been married to the senator for almost six years. There was a scandal involving a minor tribute, and even though it was easy to cover up, the senator’s reputation suffered. They had a child, but he died. After that, bitterness…
Rockin’ the Bus
by Rebecca Gawron The first blow knocks my glasses to the floor, as usual; like I’m on auto pilot, I immediately search for them, snatch them up, and toss them on the dashboard for safekeeping. For some reason he always gives me time to do this before the second strike….
The Abandoned
by Elizabeth Ivey I didn’t always know what I was, but I knew I was different. It was as though I had simply sprung into existence, sprouting from the gritty front steps of St. Agnes’s. The matron found me pounding on the dense oak door in the driving rain, drenched…
Riding the Serpent
by Michael C. Keith I thought a stick was a snake. Until it bit me, and then I knew. …
The Other Side of God’s Day
by Ree Davis I seize the rooster from his perch above the hens. They ruffle against the side of the coop and fill in around my skirts as I carry their cockerel outside. He fights against the fingers I wrap beneath the pointed feathers of his neck to hold back…
Under the Stones
by Phyllis Carol Agins Five hours in the Mediterranean sun, and she’s not waiting for anything special. Not for finding lifetime love or even a quick affair after the end of her decades-long marriage. Hours walking and her feet hurt, even though she’s worn her sensible Birkies. She’s strolled through…
Home
by Ashley O’Melia I squinted against the rain as I ran from the car to the old house. Thunder scraped across the clouds, hurrying me along. I fumbled with the key box on the front door, punching in the code my boss had given me. The code was easy to…
Crazy Little Thing Called Death
by Lenny Levine Vera Antonelli had never felt so happy, and so homicidal, to see anyone in her life. “What the hell is the matter with you?” she yelled at Simon Clark as he stumbled into the control room. “Why are you so late? We’re on the air in twenty…