On his way out Dad bent down and told me that I was man of the house now and I would be taking care of Mom. None of the other twelve-year-olds on my block had a job to do like this. Maybe, I thought, this would prepare me for sixth grade. … more
Tag Archives: Divorce
Man of Ten Years
FICTION by Gary FinneganI turned ten the weekend we left Dad in a mad rush, before Christmas, before I’d ever robbed a house. Now I share a bed in the grey-walled box room where Mam slept when she was my age. I talk to meself in the mirror sometimes now. Always tellin’ meself I’ll forever respect ten-year-olds. Most people grow up and forget important things like talkin’ to ten-year-olds and looking them in the eye.… more
The Newly Divorced Guy’s Homestyle Fish Stew
FLASH FICTION by Travis FlattPick a goddamn fish, you’re holding up the line. Just buy whatever’s cheapest. Watch the fishmonger crunch the fish from the ice and plop it on the board to filet. When he asks if he should “bone it,” go ahead and laugh, but say, “No.” Where will you be if you don’t learn to bone a fish? … more
Clint
FICTION by J. Thomas MurphyClint preferred showing over telling, the width of his shoulders, the location of his feet. He invited the clients to watch him, to learn from his form, his steady, even reps, balanced sets that worked each muscle group. Clint was a specimen of physical human potential. We all had something to learn.… more
Opening Upward Like Wings
FICTION by Joel James DavisThree ducks fly over, a lawnmower growls, and Anson Senior has not yet arrived for the exchange. The exchange is what Meredith actually calls it. In front of people, no matter who is listening.… more
Two Stories
FICTION by Melissa WitcherHe sobbed as he thought of her thick shins and dimpled thighs and how organized she was with paying the bills. He fantasized about how the thick black hair that grew from the right corner of her top lip tickled him when they kissed and how she held him at night.… more
Escape Velocity
FICTION by Stuart K WatsonA part of him was happy to see her. She was hard-wired to scrub. The much bigger part of him was wondering how in the hell she found him.… more
Chalk Outline
FICTION by Patricia Quintana BidarThe downtown lights blazed in the evening air. Slouched behind the wheel, Ismael watched as Loretta’s staff—the few whose physical presence was deemed “essential”—broke at the lobby door and hunched to their cars. Loretta, gone for 15 cold days.… more
Gable Massey Makes a Movie
FICTION by Scott GouldHe wanted to make a movie about love… He didn’t know when to turn the camera off.… more
Yesterday’s Muse
FICTION by Alice K. BoatwrightThe blurb under Jan Anderson’s photo in the Springville High School yearbook said she was on the debate team, sang in the girls’ chorus, and won a prize for writing an essay in French, but the main thing Will Harper remembered about her was her breasts. … more
