"Retrograde" & "Up in the Air" by Kathryn Silver-Hajo

Retrograde 

Philip’s parents are away. He stares at the clouds that hang sullen on the horizon, stomach clenching when he remembers Jenny’s words. Her clarity that it’s not up to him. To console himself, he calls his buddies who bring booze, offer sympathy spiked with awe. Wow. That’s rough, dude. I feel you. Philip pictures Jenny at home throwing up, thinks he might too. He remembers her soft breasts against his chest, how they studied together for the SATs, but Jenny beat him by three-hundred points. He downs tequila shots, the world whirling around him, wills it to somehow spin backwards.

Up in the Air

She was packing her hacky sacks. He was readying his devil-sticks. Not bad! he declared, bedroom eyes beckoning. She shivered with anticipation when he juggled jagged daggers, invited her for pizza in the park, twirled her like Ginger Rogers. She swooned when he swore he’d never tire of watching her, but when she lobbed lemons while maneuvering her unicycle, he frowned, launched flaming torches from atop his assistant’s shoulders, pythons circling his collarbone. When he arrived on stilts, a woman on each arm, tossing them sky high, she pedaled off to parts unknown before he could start juggling her heart.

Kathryn Silver-Hajo’s work appears in Atticus Review, Centaur Lit, CRAFT, Emerge Literary, Ghost Parachute, Gone Lawn, Milk Candy Review, New Flash Fiction Review, Pithead Chapel, Ruby Literary, The McNeese Review, The Phare,and other lovely journals. Her stories were selected for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 Wigleaf Top 50 Longlists and nominated for Best of the Net, Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, Best Small Fictions, and Best American Food Writing. Kathryn’s award-winning books include flash collection, Wolfsong, and YA novel, Roots of The Banyan Tree. More at: kathrynsilverhajo.com; facebook.com/kathryn.silverhajo; twitter.com/KSilverHajo; @kathrynsilverhajo.bsky.social;instagram.com/kathrynsilverhajo