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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Numbers Up by Matt Walker
George Kitteridge sat on the balcony and held the winning lottery ticket in his hand. Six numbers – that’s all they were. They’d been buying a lottery ticket between them for the last thirteen years: George, his wife, three friends from the golf club; choosing the same six numbers, week after week. George couldn’t remember [...]
Fairytales by Emma Borges-Scott
1. Once upon a time, there was a princess who couldn’t hear music or laughter. 2. Once upon a time, there was a girl who became anyone she touched. When she was born, she was immediately transformed into the midwife who delivered her. When the midwife discovered that she was no [...]
Healing Time by Paul Beckman
he news wasn’t good, my father told me over the phone and then he hung up. I called my sister in Cleveland and told her the news wasn’t good and when she began to ask specific questions, I said to her, “I’m sorry, I don’t know,” and hung up. She called my brother who lived [...]
The Race by Brandon White
he child asked his grandfather to race every morning for an entire week. He’d recently learned that he was the fastest kid in his class, making him bold enough to challenge the fourth and fifth graders at recess. He’d established himself on the schoolyard and now wanted to defeat an adult. There was no chance [...]
Temporary by Robert Vaughan
like temp jobs. But there’s something repulsive about getting close to people – office parties, cakes for babies about to be delivered – I’m not cut out for the long haul. I like cubicles with partitions so I can pick at my teeth, yawning when I’ve been up the previous night until two in the [...]
Dreams, Realizations, Seasons by Emma Borges-Scott
Dreams I try to compare the length of a cigarette pack to the length of a playing card pack, but it is nearly impossible. I steal jewelry from the collection of Lady Bird Johnson. I only take three pieces because any more would be conspicuous. The most magnificent piece is silver and shows reindeer pulling [...]
