Birthday Boy
byThe invite said there would be cake. Understand that I went for the cake. I won’t lie and say I didn’t hear the rumors. When Ms. Dunphy extended the invitation,…
Stories
White as Snow
byTranslated from Hungarian by Marietta Morry and Walter Burgess They’ve been working on the metro site for more than three years; carrying construction material and slowly erecting ticket booths, that…
The Martyr of Elmdale
byTeddy Morris had a gift. He told his parents as much, as plainly as he knew how: “Mom, Dad, I have a gift.” His father turned his head, but not…
Stallion Entertainment
byThe Troys didn’t seem like state fair folks. They weren’t wearing hats, or sunglasses. They had a very small car that they parked in the private lot, across from the…
Bliss Miss
byShe’d made herself quite a pile selling chocolates with a moral center, but she’d tired of her customers who, once they’d acquired the taste, were loyal to a fault, and…
The Pronoun Wars
byDuring the second millennium, at various times and places, to speak the language one grew up speaking was made a capital crime by the powers-that-were. In the Languedoc region of…
Nobody’s Business
byWe were living like frat boys then. Empty pizza boxes on the floor. Beer cans in the trash instead of the recycling bin. Justin was too depressed to clean and…
Waiting for Baby
byI got pregnant in October two months after a miscarriage. I didn’t feel happy at first. Gun shy, my father would have said, but he died, of lymphoma, just before…
Frenchie Says
byFrenchie says I look best in the khaki pants because they hide the heft of my ass. I keep asking him what he means, thinking he’s insulting me. It sounds…
Lethe, California
byThe Pacific. Rob and I have driven all the way from Oklahoma pretty much nonstop to reach this place, driven almost on a dare. And now, without even changing out…