Flash Fiction
Howard Waldman – Papy on the River
Papy on the River “It’s summer again, Papy,” we yelled in his ear. “Where to this time?” Every June 21, his birthday, it was the same thing. Most of the time we didn’t get through or when we did we couldn’t understand him and we’d wheel him around the park, telling him what the flowers […]
Matthew Dexter – First Gulf War
First Gulf War We were huffing rubber cement behind the hunchback of the art teacher when the principal opened the door and told me that Dad was dead. She whispered something into the purple ear of the teacher and ushered me away from my table. A few minutes of commiseration beside the kiln, the smell […]
Howard Waldman – Plant No Trees in the Garden
Plant No Trees in the Garden One November day, just after he’d bedded Emily, his wife timidly suggested planting a walnut tree. He was the one who planted, tended and knew. He consulted his specialized books and explained, in simplified terms, the factors that ruled out the operation: inappropriate soil, early frosts, the voracity of […]
Matthew Dexter – Home Depot
Home Depot They are piling leaves and dirt from the desert and all day we watch from the hospital out this window with this view of the hill and the saguaros and these men with seven arms shoveling the fallen earth into ashy pyramids. Every now and then these workers will look at the sky […]
Benjamin Grossman – “Birthdays” and “Another Lamb In Need of Slaughtering”
Birthdays The challenge is not to blow out the fire. The fire should only shiver, shiver as if in need of the flames of another fire. And the candles should never weep. They should have wounds but never scars. And before you gather your storm, words must wake, happiness must season voices, a group of […]
Joshua Bouchard – Hollow bones
Hollow bones She pours through the doors of the coffee shop near the corner of Keele & Dundas like molasses—alone. —–Her lips are slathered in strawberry-pink ice cream; she hand-rolls a cigarette, her hair knots in an up draft. —–One by one, she opens a handful of sugar packets, pouring the contents on the table; […]
Meg Tuite – Fish Pants
Fish Pants We called them his fish pants. If mom threw them in the hamper at night when Knuckle stripped them off, he followed her and fished them back out. When mom tried to sneak in to his bedroom after he was asleep, he took to stuffing them under his pillow. They billowed out a […]
Jordan Blum – Commemoration
Commemoration Juliette sat with stuffed animals in the darkness. Her mother placed the cake on the table; a pink and white “9” rested in its center, providing the only illumination in the room. A droplet fell onto the frosting. Her father had just opened a window and finished taping another red streamer to the ceiling. […]
Len Kuntz – Carnies
Carnies —–At the carnival, my father holds my hand for the first time, his skin damp like a bed sheet. —–The bearded lady is obese with a sleeveless dress that shows her armpit hair. My father says, “People can be whatever they damn well please,” and maybe the bearded lady hears because she starts […]
Len Kuntz – On The Wing
On The Wing My mother is afraid for me, but my stepfather says, “If he wants to go, let him.” So I’m on the plane alone. A stewardess with white skin and orange hair keeps leaning around her work station to smile and wink at me. The man in the middle seat has gas and […]
