Stories

Burning Boxes

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THE BOXES KEEP COMING. Long, casket-shaped cardboard leaning on the front steps. Palm-sized squares in the mailbox. Brown rectangles sprouting on the walkway. Shannon is never sure when they will…

Midnight Ribeye

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YOU BALANCE READILY AT THE RIFT’S EDGE, toes of your climbing shoes hanging above the misty abyss. Before the world split open (and surprise, it was flat all along), climbing…

The Taster

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MY FRIEND HAD HEARD OF EMPLOYMENT FOR ME WITH AN IRISHMAN WHO HAD SHOT UP IN THR WORLD, a man who owned horsecars and was a Sixth Ward alderman hopeful….

Winter

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MY MOTHER SAYS MY EYES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. How can they be? The flash of the headlights would be the last thing I’d see in maybe… forever? I…

Revisions

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THANK YOU. Thank you, everyone. The reason I’ve asked you all here today is because we have a very important announcement to make. Where do I start. Okay, so, as…

Sunshine

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ROSCOE LIVES ALONE WITH THIRTY-FIVE DOGS. He finds them easy to take care of, even though he’s seventy and slowing down. The dogs require little but that he calls out…

The Phareng

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I THINK OF THE PHARENG EVERY DAY. I think of his white skin and his cheeks that would turn something between pink and red whenever Mei-Duh lit the third fire. I…

June by Tuesday

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“NO ONE DRINKS CHAMPAGNE FROM WOMEN’S SHOES ANYMORE,” Dean said as he watched the foam dissipate from the head of his beer. Marcus lifted a bowl of peanuts and wiped…