by Hemant Nayak Victor P. Bladishenko loved the sound of crickets, their shiny carapaces snapping between his thick fingers. He thrilled at the crack and pop. He smirked as their legs twitched when separated from unfortunate heads. Victor flicked the still moving parts to Anatoly, his Siamese, who snapped them…
by Laurie King-Billman Mark and I shared the morning shift at the New Beginnings group home. The day he asked me to help him write a poem, we were alone; all the boys had actually gone to school. This was a rare event because, at any given time, one of…
by Michael C. Keith Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts. – D.H. Lawrence The white tail buck moves its snout a millimeter beyond the oily grass line and is assailed by a torrent of unfamiliar scents. “My mother will love those cloth napkins. She’d have everything…
by Margaret McNellis Rose’s elbows trembled. A drop of sweat splashed onto the red jigsaw mat beneath her face. She scrunched her eyes shut and tried to remember to breathe. She tried to remember that this was what she wanted. She tried to remember that she signed up for this,…
by Michael C. Keith Every bad precedent originated as a justifiable measure. – Gaius Sallustius Crispus It was out on deserted Route 310, nine miles north of Roseau, Minnesota, that Connor Barnes encountered something unlike anything he’d ever seen. It hovered in the air just a few yards in…
by Adrienne Provost I have thirty-seven different bottles of nail polish. I keep them in a white plastic tray under my bed. Ten of them are varieties of pink, seven are red, and the remaining twenty are every color of the world I don’t live in. Now, I pull them…
by Charles Edward Brooks The ultimate misery is to be ridiculous after one dies. (Agustina Bessa-Luís: Aforismos) Two downy-cheeked students afflicted with spring fever leaned out of a window at the seminary and peered down into the Rua Dom Pedro de Castro. “Blessed St. Eufémia!” cried one of them….
by Megan Vered I knew that Mom would not linger. My impression is that people die the way they live, and Mom was efficient. I called my siblings and all the grandchildren that lived nearby. “If you want to say good-bye, go. Now.” I called James and told her I could…
by Maureen Aitken That summer, when the lawns burst into flames, I packed some clothes and my Irish mythology books and rented a room from a farmer’s daughter in Jackson, Michigan. I was hired as an intern at a newspaper, where I wrote stories about a drought that scalded crops…
by Haley Kral Katie waved to her boyfriend, Jake, trying to signal him to get his car out from in view of the house. He had the headlights turned off, but there was still a chance of her parents hearing the engine or looking out to see the late model…