"Zunzuncito" by Judy Darley
Mama’s strides back and forth make sun and shadow fall in rhythm: dark light dark light. A drumbeat or a heart. Benita glances up from...
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Nov 12, 202310 min read
"J.J. Larue" by Nathan Pettigrew
Kelly called J.J. and Brooklyn her “kids” and fed them drugs. A mix of fox terrier and Jack Russell, J.J. Larue was an absolute cutie...
Nov 12, 20239 min read
"La Garbancera Gótica" by Tina Cartwright
When Dad got sick in the nights his eyes would ignite and he’d yell, —Where is she? He’d prop himself up by the elbows, his head a...
Nov 12, 20234 min read
"Defender of the Forest" by Caroline Ashley
There is a forest at the end of our garden. Years ago, when I was a scrawny youth, decorated in scrapes and bruises, I ventured through...
Oct 15, 202311 min read
"A Midwest Pizza" by Kyle Manning
The house in Madison was loud and crowded with my aunt’s granddaughters, who were home indefinitely from school. Mom and I ended up...
Aug 20, 20233 min read
"Bedspace" by David Cook
When Anne and Gareth first got together, they’d squeezed into Gareth’s single student bed, clinging onto each other tightly, a mass of...
Aug 6, 202327 min read
"Happy are the Dogheads" by Dan Brotzel
Hey-hey-hey! I like it when the sun rises early and the day is bright and warm, long into the afternoon. The earth is happy in the...
Aug 6, 202312 min read
"Mark the Lesser" by Sean MacKendrick
“Hi, table for one, please?” The hostess looked up from her phone, startled. She could be new, Mark had never seen her before. “Oh!” She...
Jul 23, 20232 min read
"Bluebird" by Kevin Brennan
She always loved airports. Her dad, robbed of having a son among his three children, used to take her to the parking area at the end of...
Jun 25, 202318 min read
"Surprise Party" by Kait Leonard
Glorianne stared into Gavin’s vacant eyes. “Don’t go, my love,” she whispered, willing her words to bring him back to her. She felt the...
Jun 11, 20236 min read
"Chili" by Elijah Woodruff
CW: Abuse The chili was burning. She had set the burner too hot and hadn’t noticed. Her own mother would have called her a terrible cook....
May 13, 202326 min read
"Isaiah Monkford" by Victoria Leigh Bennett
In setting down this story of my son, Isaiah Monkford, I, Dane Alexander Bettingsley, am guilty of a bit of a misnomer. Because it isn’t...
Apr 30, 20239 min read
"The Process" by Jillian S. Benedict and Michael Cocchiarale
We talk a lot about process—not outcome—and trying to consistently take all the best information you can and consistently make good...
Apr 2, 20238 min read
"Tolstoy 2.0" by Yelena Furman
Anna Karenina didn’t die under a train. She divorced her husband and lives with Vronsky and their daughter, Annie, in St. Petersburg. She...
Apr 2, 20237 min read
"Hunger in the Blizzard" by Mark Tulin
Hunger doesn't always jive with common sense. I guess that's why I went out into a February blizzard to the grocery store when it would...
Mar 19, 202310 min read
"Neat Neat Neat" by Mike Lee
On the drive to Austin, when Katerina passed the Brenham exit, the anxiety hit, and the verbal processing commenced. “We have only four...
Mar 19, 20239 min read
"New Years Kiss" by Alex J. Barrio
It’s New Year’s Eve and I’ve been single for way too long. Well, not like way too long, but definitely a long time, depending on how you...
Jan 22, 20235 min read
"Voyager Bay" by Barbara Lock
Father threw me off the sailboat, gripped the rudder with his left hand, did something with the rope in his clean, right palm. The boat...
Dec 26, 202212 min read
“Flowers Bloom in Bardo” by Jack Moody
There was another new one today. The man rose from bed, feeling the bandages covering his body. The white carnation had bloomed out of...
Dec 11, 20225 min read
“And Other Things to Do While Stuck in Traffic” by R. Tim Morris
In the rearview he watches the couple arguing. He adjusts the mirror and leans back, a wide-screen performance just for him. The woman is...
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