by Michael McLean Bullets buzzed through the air like angry hornets. Those that didn’t hit dirt ricocheted randomly from rock outcrops. Mark Grayson hunkered down behind a meager outcrop as the unmistakable barks of a dozen or more Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles were answered sporadically by bursts from his outnumbered escort’s…
by Nitin Dangwal You came to know that a guy in your college loved you. You came to know this when you bumped into an old friend from college, and he casually mentions this. You are bemused because you always thought of him as a friend. You smile, and express…
by Tom Catalano There wasn’t much for her to take. She had given away most of her possessions when they left Malibu. He furnished the new house in San Francisco. She merely brought an old country table, an old wooden chest, some art objects, and an antique doll’s chair. But in…
by Melissa Campbell Her husband, Eliot, had disappeared amongst the other party guests. Kate excused herself from the circle of women she was chatting with to reapply her lip gloss. On her way back, she caught sight of Eliot and a young woman standing at the French doors that led…
by Mark Ali The balcony door slid open and Warren stepped outside. It was another Oakland winter. The winds were westerly. The climate was Mediterranean. Rain was absent on this evening, the sky was clear. The air was sharp and crisp. Warren moved to the balcony to escape the rising…
by Rochelle Jewel Shapiro “Beauty Marks” was first published by The Coachella Review. My mother prized beauty marks. Every day she penciled one on her right cheek. Once, the butcher, getting flirtatious, pinched her cheek, then staggered back, jaws agape, when it smeared. I had one low on my back,…
by Mary Julia Klimenko Julia Pearl had been to therapy enough years to understand it was her job to find things to do and her job not to complain if her life wasn’t going the way she wanted it to go. Her therapist always pointed out, when Julia Pearl complained…
by Philip A. Kaplan If I were to ask you what is the most technologically complex, financially convoluted product you’ve bought during the past number of years, I’d venture to say you’d answer an automobile, a computer, a smart phone or a wide flat screen high def color TV. But…
by Daniel Davis Tammy’s fingers drummed against the coffee mug. For the twentieth time in the past hour, she glanced at the cabinet above the fridge, the one she had to use a stepladder to reach. She could see the bottles inside, beckoning. Just a nip, as her grandmother would…
by Don McMann Vince put the big Mercedes in reverse and pressed lightly on the accelerator. “Gentle, now,” he said aloud. The car began to move. He gripped the wheel with both fists. It was dark in the garage, but bright sunshine outside. He squinted as he looked into the…