GENE NEWMAN: Under Wood
Our lives are largely guided by what cabinets and bureaus have decided. Rulings from the bench, it seems can banish hopes, puncture dreams. Motions to the chair from the floor have often led to civil...
View ArticleKENT OSWALD: Lives Lived Lesson
What William heard first from grandmother was that in every woman’s heart there exists “the one that got away.” What he heard next from grandfather was that in every man’s head there exists “the one...
View ArticleSAM HALL: Written in the Stars
The stars aligned on the night I met Alice. They scrawled a warning across the sky: “Run away!” I took no notice. I thought, “What do stars know?” Years later, when I was living out of my car, another...
View ArticleLISA CHAMBERS: A Rough Day
On the links, Bernie wasn’t feeling quite up to par. Was it a stroke? Too many irons in the fire? It teed him off to leave the game, but the discomfort was off-putting. Thankfully, his doctor diagnosed...
View ArticleEDDIE D MOORE: Zucchini Casserole
After inhaling the last few bites on his plate, Mike asked, “Where did you get this casserole recipe?” “It’s one of Sarah’s from the office.” “That’s from her zucchini cookbook. I thought your wife was...
View ArticleSHRUTI: The New Vegetarian
I became vegetarian soon after I discovered my beloved husband’s infidelity. I decided I needed a lifestyle change. I began sticking to my greens and beans but continued cooking meat for him. I must...
View ArticleOLEG V KHARCHENKO: No Problem
Zhora, meeting Galya in a bar, undressed her with his eyes and quickly dressed her back. “Galya! You`ve been a widow for a whole year… I am also alone. Not so young, but, nevertheless, quite well off....
View ArticleJOHN H. DROMEY: Playing It by the Book
After a dust storm, a crew arrived at a hamlet to assist with the cleanup. “My porch’s outdoor carpet is so dirty you can’t tell what color it is,” a homeowner lamented. “How will you deal with that?”...
View ArticleGENE NEWMAN: My Only Coup
Skippy was my very best friend in the third grade, but business is business. One day I traded my turtle Swifty for Skippy’s very fat cat Lucy. In just two weeks I had four cats and poor Skippy had only...
View ArticleGENE NEWMAN: Uplifting Purchase
Dollar Store checkout customers waited impatiently behind someone who’d ordered 48 birthday balloons to be selected and inflated one at a time. Then they watched the little mother leave, struggling...
View ArticleCMF WRIGHT: Planet Problems
At the planets’ meeting, the mood is grim. “I’m losing my rings,” says Saturn. “Soon I’ll be bald like Jupiter.” “You think you have it bad?” Earth laughs. “I’m infested with humans! They poison my...
View ArticleTIM DADSWELL: A Flash of Excitement
“Can I bring Tom on Sunday?” she asked. “Of course, love. And what does this one do?” asked her mother. “Theatre.” “Oh my God, what’s he been in? Does he know Hugh Jackman? Or Judi Dench? Has he met...
View ArticleEMILY MERRELL: No Solicitors
The couple came to my door with religious tracts. “We’re visiting neighbors and want to know if you’ve learned the secret to everlasting life.” “I’m glad you’re here!” I exclaimed. “I’ve been...
View ArticleANGELA PANAYOTOPULOS: Missing
The neighbors locked their pets indoors whenever he walked his around the block. The creature grinned, teeth silvery as its chain leash, time-bomb claws clicking against asphalt. But when Hook hung up...
View ArticleKIT IRWIN: Delayed Justice
The haunted pencil wrote in elegant Victorian script the true identity of Jack the Ripper, the details of his crimes, and how he escaped justice. A teenager found the pages, couldn’t bother deciphering...
View ArticleCASEY LAINE: November 1st
My neighborhood is littered with the silken corpses of deflated Halloween decorations and giant cotton spiderwebs. The dead have come and gone. One night of merriment and then, shedding last year’s...
View ArticleHANA S ELYSIA: Pest Control
“So tell me about your line of work. What kind of pests do you get called for most?” “Oh, you name it. Catcallers, thigh-touchers, bra strap snappers. We got it all. I even had a pest tell me I should...
View ArticleMICHELLE WILSON: A.I.
He made a smart toy. One that talked to him; played chess with him; cooked, cleaned, and did his taxes for him. One that built a 3D-printed cabin with a secure room to keep its own special toy: a...
View ArticleGENE NEWMAN: Grandma’s Curse
My Grandma Nora tended to react quite strongly when cheated, swindled or treated wrongly by a fast-talking larcenous door-to-door fellow “Spalpeen, you’ll spend every last penny on medicine,” she’d...
View ArticlePHIL TEMPLES: Cosmic Balance
“Give a man a fish, you’ll feed him for a day,” said Lao Tzu. But teach him how to set up a flash mob on social media to loot the local Super Stop & Shop—well now, he and his friends will eat high...
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