“When the stock market roars again, I’m prepared.” John Jacobs, on the porch at dusk, says things he thinks I like to hear. “Did I ever tell you a quetzal’s beauty is no match for you?” I tell him I’m no bird. He nods. A branch of magnolia waves in the heavy air. I take… more
Category Archives: Fiction
Old Familiars
Fiction by Daniel McKayThe sound passed almost unheard, swept up in the mid-morning air as though the wind itself had compassionately intervened. Briefly, Frank wondered if he’d imagined it, but he knew that was just his mind edging away. There was no doubt on the matter. None. The horse’s forehoof had hit the pony girl’s shinbone. He’d seen… more
A Great Man
Fiction by John CountsFor many years after the release of the award-winning motion picture Dances With Wolves, Dad believed he was descended from Native Americans. We are not, but that didn’t stop him from conducting hours of blundering research on the early Internet in an attempt to validate such claims. He found a sepia-toned picture of a tall… more
Papa Padding
Fiction by David WilliamsonWhen Donald skates, he flies. He cuts arcs into the pavement and pushes past the parked cars in the lot in wide curving strides. He calls out to kids blocking his path. “Right,” he says, and they step aside and let Donald glide past. He crouches, pushes off with one leg, swings an arm on… more
What They’ll Do For Yours
Fiction by Joseph Charles MollicaAfter the tires stop screeching she heard what she was sure was splatter. She left mother’s soup on the stove and went to the window and then to the door and then she was quickly across the front yard to the edge of the lawn. The sun was fiery and luminous and a small plane… more
Swelter
Fiction by TJ FullerAlan told the priest in the latticed shadow, the bus driver in the afternoon glare, one coworker while the coffee percolated, and another when the copier broke down. What he felt did not letup. He booked a flight to New Orleans and told a shoeless man in the middle seat, a boy selling bottles of… more
The Break
Fiction by Drew ColesOn their last weekend together, two fourth-grade boys sneak into the woods searching for a mythical creature with the power to grant wishes. Leif feels childish for entertaining the idea, but he would follow his friend to the end of the earth if asked. Creed has spent afternoons at the library and nights on the… more
Everyone Was Smoking and Drinking out of Fear
Fiction by Max ChiaroscuroThe world shut down abruptly one Monday before anyone had a chance to really think about it. I’d been in bed in my mom’s back bedroom watching Star Wars cartoons and smoking a bowl. I’d been committed to a pretty easy night when I received a text from mom: the governor was shutting down all… more
The Hardest Thing
Fiction by Kim MagowanThe last time I saw my father, he was weak but not in severe pain. It was a wealthy form of hospice; he was sitting up in one of his fancy, overstuffed, silk-upholstered armchairs. He told me that the hardest thing about dying was that he couldn’t sleep at night, and I remember feeling surprised—wouldn’t… more
Swim, Swam, Swum
Fiction by Barrett HathcockMax didn’t even have to ring the doorbell. I came out as the van pulled up. I suppose I shouldn’t have been so eager for the visit but it didn’t occur to me hang back, to be cool, not yet at least. It was late summer, just before the start of eighth grade. I was… more
