The boy woke in the morning, and at the top of the kitchen’s garbage bin, with pieces of chewed meat and skinned potato chunks for pillows, were the teeth from his father’s mouth. There were three of them, and the roots where they had been planted into pink, swollen gums were deep red. Laying [...]
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It’s Darkness He Wants by Benjamin Hale
I drove to McGuckin’s and asked to be directed to the rope section. “Aisle twelve!” chirped the girl at the register. McGuckin’s Hardware always makes me sleepy. Something about being in a dark building the size of an airplane hangar stacked to the ceiling with hardware makes me feel like a kid dragged around on [...]
The Ladder by Roger Pincus
Harkness placed his aluminum ladder on the concrete patio near the rear of his house, steadying it as best he could. The house was a simple raised rambler, a long, tall rectangle with no additions. He had reminded Rosa of this at breakfast, trying to fend off her demands that he not clean the gutters [...]
Canyon by Allegra Frazier
ed Kipsie and my father knew one another for many years but not well, and Ted’s carrying my father out of the canyon after he broke his foot did not change that. Their wives were friends and the two men hiked together once a month to fulfill what they understood to be an obligation to [...]
Prunes at Gunpoint by Nick Antosca
n a month, Diana Lerzer turns 29. She’s always regarded 29 as that age: the age at which systems break down and maintenance becomes crucial. Years ago at Emory, her boyfriend said she had the metabolism of a flying squirrel, or the Human Torch. This was true: For nearly 29 years, her metabolism has let [...]
First Impressions by Douglas Silver
Gary threw a fit when the contractor began to fill our pool. I was halfway out the door, set to go antiquing before picking up the kids from school, when I heard him shouting like a madman. I ran out back to find him bunkered down behind a chaise. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Nothing. Nothing’s [...]
Water by Ames John Gigounas
Everything is heaped on the floor and he is a captain in the middle. Pen and notepad, college-ruled; he never wrote on wide, even in school, irritated by the distance between the lines. He works his fingers through the mess and selects Japanese language discs. He writes that down, noting Mint Condition, starts a pile [...]
Gloss by Cooper Renner
It’s whipgloss, ladies: the grasses steep-edged in the storm, dense with hornets trying to trick their way under the roots while the stains keep creeping out of my fist, moistening the knee of my pants, your pants, our pants; leaving us stranded like creatures that gurgle under the waste as the mud hardens. Follow my [...]
Come See For Yourself by Sara Lippmann
Today while my parents are at church Billy picks me up and takes me to the Adventure Aquarium. It’s not far from Philly, we’re practically floating in the Delaware River, but it’s a thrill to cross state lines, to holler out the top of his sister’s Suzuki as we rumble over the Ben Franklin Bridge. [...]
Noah’s Ark Hits Dry Land by Paul Bibeau
Ham! Get mom and the kids. Gather everybody up on deck, quick. Look, people. Look out there. You see where the water line is? Almost a hundred feet from where it was yesterday. It’s definitely receding. We’re saved. The Lord has saved us! I want us all to take a walk outside the ark and [...]
