By Fred Krug Story originally appeared in "Unexpected Events" Emma Brooks struggled, trying to lift her suitcase onto the first of four steps that led up into the bus. Paul Harris, the driver, saw she was having trouble. He put down his newspaper and called to her as he went to help. “Hey, there, Emma. That bag’s … Continue reading Never Alone
The Diet-Soda Beast
By Pennell Paugh This story tells how two shortcomings of my friend, Jim, collided to create an unlikely solution to a major social problem. First, like a tone-deaf person singing a song, Jim had a sense of smell that managed to be out-of-sniff with the rest of humanity. Let me give you an example. When … Continue reading The Diet-Soda Beast
A Man From the Missouri Breaks
By Leigh-Anne Burley Nobby notices the dust swirling as a posse emerges from Big Sandy, Montana, pursuing a chicken and farm supply bandit. His third-grade classmates talk about a wild man who leaps over the Missouri Breaks with just one bound after devouring a raw chicken. Nobby wonders if the chicken thief has a proper … Continue reading A Man From the Missouri Breaks
monogamy
By Morgan Larkins He’d bought the ring from a mall kiosk for four-hundred dollars in cash. It’d taken him eighteen shifts at the diner to save the cash, some of it going into other envelopes tucked around the double wide for rent and groceries, for the vacation they’d been trying to plan for four months. … Continue reading monogamy
If We Children Plant the Garden and Fall To Your Knees and Pray: An Ecological Prayer for the World
By Denize Lauture, Coeur de poeme If We Children Plant the Garden Green are the leaves Red are the flowers Green and red is our little garden White is the pollen Rosy are the fruits White and rosy is our little garden If we children plant the garden Blue are the stems Gray are the branches … Continue reading If We Children Plant the Garden and Fall To Your Knees and Pray: An Ecological Prayer for the World
Sleep and The Coriolis Effect
By Anniyah Rizvi Sleep Stale air kisses cold skin shuddering against the vague dawn bundled and broken, the fading dust of a crumbling day lingers on parted lips, it nestles under liquid eyes. Yellowing memories sigh as they fold, crinkle and bend under the firm fist of time the mind dies and is reborn again … Continue reading Sleep and The Coriolis Effect
Love’s Light
By Brenda Mox Her bitterness seemed to wither like flowers in a crystal vase, on the hinges of his words, full of fairy delights bursting forth with pops of color, singing like a Sunday smile. Caught in the magic of moments in the fire bathed parlor casting warm glows on the sides of their face, … Continue reading Love’s Light
The Boar
By Vicki Smith She could hear it rooting and grunting in the yard almost every night. She was afraid to go outside because it would savage her if she got too close. Well, if she could kill it, it would provide enough food for a whole winter. But how? She didn’t own a gun. “I’ll … Continue reading The Boar
Safe Passage at the Symphony
By Alan Swope While listening to “Night on Bald Mountain” performed by the San Francisco Symphony The hall a Roman galley pulled by rowing bows, guided by the conductor’s baton. Its hull a haven from a world of losses. Billows of sound surge toward, around the silver-haired listeners as they plunge through timeless waters. So … Continue reading Safe Passage at the Symphony
Pomegranate
By Gal Podjarny Previously Published in Cafe Lit Magazine Nothing like an afternoon light to soften childhood memories. Last week, I opened a pomegranate. I decrowned it, made two circular cuts all around, and opened it into quarters. The red seeds huddling sent me to the past. Here I am, a scrawny kid, wavy brown … Continue reading Pomegranate
Academy of the Heart And Mind 