MARY STEER: Happy New Year
Nobody’s gonna count down to midnight with more zeal than me. In this, my “Year of Yes”, I’ve: got multiple tatts and piercings bungee-jumped sky-dived (dove?) sat through a live opera adopted a dog...
View ArticleJO WITHERS: Moving Forward
His wife sneered at him, her eyes heavy with disappointment. “While you’ve been in jail, I’ve turned my life around. I won second prize in a beauty contest and I’ve started to invest in property. I...
View ArticleTHOMAS TILTON: Future Tense
Of course, if someone successfully built a time machine and changed the past, the rest of the world wouldn’t have a clue. From our perspective, the future would unfurl exactly as it was supposed to. I...
View ArticleCONNIE TAYLOR: Assassin Retirement Plan
“This won’t hurt a bit,” I whispered to the assassin operative from behind as I administered the lethal injection. His body crumpled to the floor. I felt badly but I had my orders. Our team’s cleaner...
View ArticleSARAH KRENICKI: Roommate From Hell
In college I had a roommate who kept “borrowing” my clothes. I made a salt perimeter around my closet door as a passive-aggressive joke, but when it worked too well I tested it out on the refrigerator....
View ArticleEDDIE and ANNA MOORE: The Waiting Room
The old lady nudged the bearded man beside her, and asked, “Do you remember my brother?” “What?” He replied. “My brother. Do you remember my brother?” The old man sighed. “I am your brother! I’ve told...
View ArticleBALÁZS PAPP: Sweet Revenge
They said he couldn’t do it. They said it was impossible for him to become a confectioner. He’d failed culinary school over and over again. But here he was, baking a cake for the Chief Examiner. He let...
View ArticleMARK FARLEY: No one cares until it looks difficult
Barry didn’t need to make the announcement about turbulence or flick the seatbelt light on early or shake the column hard enough to make the wings flex or force the wheels to thump on touchdown, but...
View ArticleDEBBIE L MILLER: Love at First Sight
I sat on the rickety court bench, filling out the restraining order application, vowing I would someday leave my apartment, walk down the street, and go to the supermarket without fear, no longer...
View ArticlePHILIPP M SELMAN: A Fresh Start
Frank woke up in the early hours of the morning to a loud scraping sound from just outside his close little chamber. His eyes were open before he knew it, and he stretched his long limbs, throwing off...
View ArticleG ALLEN WILBANKS: Out the Back
With nowhere to hide, he stood exposed, naked to the world. Looking up from where he came, he longed for what he had left behind. Unprepared for confrontation, the choice that led him to this time and...
View ArticleIAIN YOUNG: How It Usually Works
“Call it in the air, ma’am.” “Tails,” said Spring, lounging by the pool. The groundhog caught the coin. “It’s heads, ma’am.” “Best of three?” Spring asked. “No,” said Winter, “and absolutely no more...
View ArticleVIV BURGESS: Relative Position
IN FOUR HUNDRED YARDS, TURN RIGHT. “Oo, nonsense! Not that way. Go up Nover’s Hill. That’s Mrs Rathbone’s house. She just died of oldtimers. BUS! This car needs a good clean… Turn left, I mean right....
View ArticleTAMSIN SEYMOUR: Lonely Hearts Anonymous
It could’ve been a sofa ad. “Second-hand, some surface wear, but generally in good shape.” It made Keith chuckle, like Ann used to, before they got sunk by two kids, twenty years, and brutal...
View ArticleEO HARGREAVES: Under Construction
Step one, turn on the lights. Two, install ceiling. Three, make something to stand on; add plants. Four, hang some twinkle lights; five, fill fish tank. Six, create humanity—no wait. Crap, this isn’t...
View ArticleSPENCER CHOU: Enjoy Your Meal
The waiter set their plates down on the table. He said, “Enjoy your meal.” The man replied, “Thank you.” As the waiter turned to leave, the man added, almost without thinking, “Goodbye.” When they got...
View ArticleNADJA TANG: Iced Tea
“Ah, an organic bergamot iced tea with rosemary mint.” She ordered it. I tried not to look at her. “I am not a hipster,” she said, too defensively. “Everyone’s a hipster nowadays, being all pretentious...
View ArticleALISON CARROLL: Early Thaw
He’d treasured that winter. Record snow. Briskly cold. Mother had carefully arranged a scarf around his neck while he watched the children’s snowball fight. He stifled a chuckle when father clumsily...
View ArticleGAYNOR JONES: Tin Foil Hats
When Timothy’s mother bought the microwave, his father insisted they wear tin foil hats to protect their brains. Timothy, ever his father’s son, went one step further: he lined the whole thing with...
View ArticleSA HARTWICH: Breathe
They came in solidarity: wide nostrils, narrow nostrils, dark-brown to albino-white, humongous, miniscule, deviated septums; stuffy and clear. Seven billion gathered at the Superdome. Seven billion...
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