Within three weeks, he’d gone from six steady hands to eleven. Eight men, three women. Tattoos. Scars. Nervous smiles. Hard eyes. All of them wanting something….He respected that. Wanting something was how you stayed alive.… more
Tag Archives: Work
Santa Blues
FLASH FICTION by Swetha AmitI don’t know how to describe to this little boy that I’m not Santa, I’m just a 30-year-old guy without a chimney or a roof. That I sometimes rest my head on a friend’s couch for a day or even a week if I’m lucky. That I got this stint because of my friend who works here as kitchen staff.… more
The Work-From-Home Husband Makes Espresso
FLASH FICTION by Wanying ZhangYou’re sick of another “deep dive,” or “brain dump,” or a hollow call to “think outside the box.” You tell yourself to “buy in” to the mission to be a “trusted financial partner,” to “meet customer needs,” to “contribute to community well-being.” But you can’t even lie to yourself.… more
Cool
FLASH FICTION by Steve GergleyWe talked about a four-story gothic mansion hidden in the dirt-caked gut of the woods. How we would build it, how many rooms we’d want, what we would do in there once it was finished. Her hair brushed against my neck like the long, soft fibers of lush prairie grass.… more
more secret wars
FICTION by tony rauchI thought maybe they were canceling operations. Or maybe terminating my contract. For good this time. Real good. Maybe they wanted to do it in public, make a big show of it. I’d rather they handle these matters in private, in some musty old brick warehouse somewhere, in some back alley, on a secret plane to nowheresville, maybe tossing my body out over a swamp. There is a dignity to that, a flair to it.… more
Bible Study
FICTION by Garret MillerMen like James don’t know softness, don’t know a whole lot other than work. They still look for God, though. Even after hours on the floor at Honda, they crawl towards church fronts, hungry and tired and missing their wives and brothers and sisters and cousins and mothers. The gods they know during the day are not gentle like the one they are here looking for. … more
Apartment 1848
FICTION by Emily Strempler“Early for shift,” it said. “One minute, thirty-two seconds. Twenty-seven hours, fifty-two minutes, and twenty seconds of voluntary overtime have been logged to your account this period. Would you like to volunteer to give up a shift?”… more
Two Stories
FICTION by John A. McDermottThere was nothing to slide off her finger. No reason to reach out to Toby’s empty hand, turn it up, and set something in the middle of his warm palm. Nothing gleamed in the dim winter light. The ring was on a baggage cart, on the tarmac beyond the window, packed in Toby’s suitcase. But she knew it was coming.… more
Quick Math
FICTION by Paul RousseauDarrell stared at the room placard just below the peephole until his sight went out of focus. He made the numbers 404 transform, they shuffled and stretched, elastic, until they spelled out their true meaning as Darrell saw them. A warning: Death O’Death.… more
