Carried Away You have a fight with your wife. It’s the worst of a string of previous fights that have been going on for several weeks. You slam the front door and get into the cab of your 1973 Ford pickup, then squeal the tires as you race out of the driveway. You don’t really … Read more
Edward Cline: Carried Away
May 18th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 2 (May 2012) - (0 Comments)Deborah S. Prespare: The Old Man and the Ponytail Palm
May 18th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 2 (May 2012) - (0 Comments)The Old Man and the Ponytail Palm Fall’s final days. Along the street, there were rundown cars wearing discarded leaves, parked bumper to bumper, and there were walkups, leaning against one another in their drooping skins—crumbling brick, sagging window frames, peeling paint—all looking bone-weary in the gray day. On the sidewalk, a boy watched his … Read more
Brooks Rexroat: The Shore of Erie
May 18th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 2 (May 2012) - (0 Comments)The Shore of Erie I would have preferred to wait and fly in for the funeral, but Sarah convinced me to see him while he was still breathing. She made a compelling argument: “I’m not paying the therapy if you don’t see him.” I shrugged, as I do when she’s so correct that I’ve got … Read more
Gina Wohlsdorf: Basic Economics
February 12th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (2 Comments)Basic Economics Your children probably aren’t dead. That was the gist of the cops’ information. “We don’t have a clear understanding of the situation at this time,” said Sergeant Kennison. “You know what we know. Try to be patient.” The shooting started at one o’clock. Word spreads fast in the suburbs, especially when every teenager … Read more
W.J. Rosser: All Original Bébé Jumeau Poupeé
February 8th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (3 Comments)All Original Bébé Jumeau Poupeé (with Violet Eyes and Closed Mouth Circa 1874 in Very Fine Condition) Ellie spent a great deal of her time behind sloping diaphanous folds hanging beneath the subdued and softer but no less amaranthine valance that obscured from view the mahogany skirt carved to match the posts and the footboard … Read more
Terry Sanville: Rematch
February 8th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (0 Comments)Rematch Lenora rolled off her lover and rested on the cool sheets, inhaling the scent of sex. Outside in the autumn rain, an electric trolley hissed and popped its way along Baltimore Avenue. She remembered her brother’s dirty joke from when they were little: “Your mama’s like a trolley car – anybody can hop on … Read more
Leah Kaminsky: The Freeways Between Us
February 8th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (0 Comments)The Freeways Between Us 1. Prelude Mother told us not to believe in ghosts, and so we didn’t–not at first, anyhow, not in that way. We thought she meant the kind on TV that suddenly materialize in the bathroom mirror, the kind with Unfinished Business and a thirst for suffering. But when she left–went as … Read more
Jeffery Ryan Long: Executioner in the Lunchroom
February 8th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (0 Comments)Executioner in the Lunchroom A week after I started at my new job Caroline, who’d held the position before me, was fired. “Let go” was how my supervisor put it, “because things weren’t working out.” Caroline had trained me the first couple of days and, after she was sure I had things figured out on … Read more
Stephen Mazzeo: The Smell of Victory
February 8th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (0 Comments)The Smell of Victory The woods donʼt smell funky until Iʼm in the church parking lot. The full stench of birds, beasts, and rotting logs, the supreme majesty of Gaia, clings to my cloths and hair. The miles backpacked over the last three days turn from accomplishment to disgust. In the forest I parade around, … Read more
James P. Hanley: The Neighbors
February 8th, 2012 | Posted by in Fiction & Flash Fiction | Issue 1 (Feb 2012) - (0 Comments)The Neighbors It was a typical dinner at the Bristoli’s house, Carl’s wife, Jessica, passing around the plate of carved meat and cheerfully recounting the day’s sales at the antiques store where she worked part time, his sixteen year old son grunting in response to asked questions, and his sullen daughter scowling at the meal … Read more
