Category: Fiction

It was all beginning again whether she was ready or not. In March the rains came as they hadn’t come in years. Under a skeleton of a cedar elm that hadn’t leafed out yet, Cassie waited for her gardener to finish pulling weeds...

Hello… What?… No!… I’ll be right there.” I was out of the bed, face washed, clothes on, almost before I put down the phone. “Jess, Jess.” I pushed on her curled form. “Honey, Mama has to go out. Go and get in my bed...

Little Sally Harrington reeked of cigarette smoke. The second grader stood behind the office counter, a frown on her face. Must be the puffy jacket, Carol thought, getting up from her desk to find out what the girl wanted. She...

It begins with a big black truck, as these things often do. Cee feels it first, rather than sees it – hard, as it cruises up behind her, slowly, pulsing a dark beat of post-nineties hip-hop with bass dropped so heavy Cee feels...

Despite protestations to the contrary, Bobo knew the deceased was less than upstanding. Hortense read his mind. “What did you think?” she asked. “Fine,” Bobo replied. Said she: “It’s a funeral. What did you expect?” Bobo nodded....

Lee Burton relaxed in the kayak, painting the sky with his fingers. A biplane, riding the clouds, put a smile on his face. It took some effort to remember the last time he had been on the water, “Life is sweet,” he sang into the...

It was not her fault. No, it was really not her fault at all. She had tried to correct the problem but to no avail. She knew the thought balloon was always hovering just above her head, even when she was certain she had no...

The windows above his head were half open and the smell of the streets lingered in the F-line trolley like a tightly wrapped turban on a man’s head. Thomas moved his backpack closer to him then stuffed it in his lap. “So you’re...

I blame Aunt’s high school frenemy, “Big D,” for calling during the storm to tell Aunt that someone was buried in her cemetery plot. I also thank her. Monsoon June. My father, dead six months. My mother, splitzies to pursue her...

“Antlers and that,” Sondra said, rubbing her chin; “That white robe-thing you mentioned, that’ll do it.” “You like the idea of my wearing antlers?” “Definitely.” “And I could hold a scepter and say, ‘Oh, you’re here to worship...