FictionThe Life and Times of a Male Childminder My childminding career lasted just over three years. My previous employment was as a learning support assistant with special needs children at a primary…
FictionJax saw Alma’s head resting on her arm, flat on the cool surface of her desk. Her hair covered her face and spilled over the edge like a soft black waterfall. She…
Fiction1 It was the night of the Democratic primary in 1970. We were delirious! Bella Abzug had just wrested the Congressional seat from Leonard Farbstein, a political hack. The honorable Congressman claimed…
FictionThe November moon was high overhead, making the treetops and field look silver. I went out to see the moon glow on my skin and found a moth struggling to build a…
FictionDetour “Did you bring the baby’s bottle?” “Of course I did. Did you put the diapers in the trunk?” “We can always buy diapers.” “You mean to say we have no diapers…
FictionDredging “They’re draining Jackson Pond,” my wife says, and I almost spray my Fruit Loops. She just keeps rolling like it doesn’t matter, rinsing her breakfast dishes and slipping them into the…
FictionDelaney’s Pansies Delaney had spent his entire life trying to make the world a more beautiful place. And he’d done it—modestly perhaps, but he’d done it. His pansies glorified his yard and…
FictionEmerging Adulthood Old Age Frightens Me During the last few years of his life, Grandad used to write down the time and events of each day. At 2:15, the mail was delivered,…
FictionEctotherm Don’t shop when you’re hungry, they always say. No one mentions the opposite: don’t bother when you’ve lost your appetite. Nothing looks like food. The cart goes hungry. Spotless glass flings…
FictionFist. Pull. Foot. Push. Lanny tightened his fingers around the bottom rung of the silo’s ladder and pulled the weight of his body up, legs swimming the air for leverage, nose twitching,…
FictionAccentuating Circumstances I grew up during the late 1940s in a Jewish working class neighborhood in Brooklyn. Because all our neighbors over the age of fifty were from Eastern Europe, nearly everyone’s…
FictionBrand New Man Tony slicked back his hair with the comb he kept in his pocket, and smoldered at his reflection—hair was getting too long. Well, that wouldn’t do. Annie wouldn’t be…
FictionA red letter day , thought Leland Hendy as his feet pounded the dirt streets of Mendocino City, Mendocino County, California. It was late and hot and September, 1933. “Seven years of…
FictionDoggie There I was in Morningside Heights. Walking that damn doggie again. Third day in a row and I was already ready to tie that doggie’s leash to a Citi Bike and…
FictionMinstrel Cycle The swift plucking of chords forcefully interrupted Arianna’s dreams. Groaning, she begrudgingly lifted herself off the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As she squinted, she saw the figure…
FictionSteam Rooms, Silk Robes, and Sterilized Needles Buck woke in what he thought was a steam room; he assumed the coat the doctor had on was a silk robe. It wasn’t. When…
FictionThe Darang Family and the Super Typhoon The weather reports on TV declared it a super typhoon, the strongest that the region would ever witness. The news anchor said they even culled…
FictionPretty Good Tours, Ltd. Expands Its Base The executive staff of Pretty Good Tours, Ltd. had assembled in the CEO’s office. CEO Francine Fillistin sipped her coffee as she waited for the…
FictionCatch Candace hated playing catch with Doug. She was terrible at it, and felt bad they couldn’t get a decent rhythm going. She was always missing the ball as it sailed just…
FictionTransformer Wife Last night, this husband fixed lunch for the next day. I thought I’d be nice. Admittedly, not a really complicated recipe–two ingredients, chicken and crock pot. That’s it. Place chicken…