Paralysis
byYou tiptoe down the hall, where one of the Sisters stands. Smile eternal, steam wrapping her in colorful tentacles, patterned silk a noose around her hair. Would you like to…
Stories
Arms Wide and Welcoming
byA December storm swirls, and twilight arrives early to northern Switzerland. I’m home alone, fueling our Kachelofen with split logs, when my son arrives from the train station. I close…
At the Omni
byMy good madam, I can sense the anger beneath your professional mien. You’re upset that I’ve trashed my suite, and you’re quite right to be. The damage, as you’ve seen,…
Pumpkin
byWith the roarin’ hum of the horseflies and the baking midnight heat, our little patch of Texas coulda been the center of the equator. Some patcha paradise, hidden in some…
Check Engine
byYour check engine light comes on because it loves you. This is my working hypothesis. This is not what the sensor will tell you, but what do they know? Those…
The Verbs
byCynthia Scoffs maintains a list of people she’s met who also have verbs for last names, including: Terrance Beat Jill Bent May Blanche—extra points for the modal auxiliary verb Oscar…
Albert
byAlbert came from a synthetic embryo built from their parent’s stem cells. “It’s so much easier this way,” their mother had explained. But Yu is convinced Albert turned out all…
Woman with Cannonball
byJonah studied American History for four years and came out of his degree still a patriot. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe that America had done some stuff that wasn’t…
The Lifespan of a Mourning Dove
byI was walking on 30th near Grape Street, where I live, and saw a man painting an apartment building all by himself. Right then I was thinking about how I…
Parakeet
byHe had expected worse. The inevitable letdown after Christmas, the dead parakeet, the New Year’s to come, everything that had happened. But it wasn’t bad. It felt almost good, even,…