Originally published on CC&D In the 40’s it took 10 minutes for men in coats to drill into housewives’ human bone like needles through thick wool to block sniveling and drive forbearance. Expose the brain like flattened soiled diapers to curb fretting and implant composure. Dump alcohol into the cavity, cracked eggs into a well …
Originally published in The Seraphic Review Blood on the tissue. Stomach tumbling to hard tile, anchored to expiration. I thought I was prepared, every acrobatic bathroom visit bracing body brain and guts. Til a speck of encroaching red spreads beyond itself inaudible insensible shrapnel cruel. In ricocheting glazed enclosures, in musty unkempt stalls, in tidy …
Originally published in Friday Flash Fiction “I know he’s not real.” She nodded softly, guided two slumping shoulders down the hall and from under a frumpy bed produced a worn shoebox. His velvet hands removed wrinkled envelopes, and together they visited the time before. Her boy blushed at his barely legible hopes, gaped at his …
Originally published in 50 Give or Take The clasp clicked shut, two halves of precious metal meeting into an oval. Gold links hung inside her silky fingers. “A keepsake,” she insisted. I chuckled then studied the boy clutching my hand. Doe eyes smiled back. How old will he be when he sells the lie?
Originally published in Cerasus Magazine Salty spray smacks both bony knees. Shrieking in delight, four-year-old me retreats to my smiling dad, churning foam and sand as I muscle through. From shore, mom watches, perfect-posture regal. A pale hand shades her roving eyes. She’ll pounce if things get bad. White froth cups and tugs my browned …
Originally published in Book of Matches They would start in the den Small. Organized. Dad had said to take anything they might use so they built two boxes. Keep. Donate. The classics were no surprise In the classroom she had shone brightest and laughed. Most. Faulkner, Dante, the Russian and others she loved quickly filled …
Originally published in defenestrationism.net Willing the Other Line The thin print paper crackled in my quaking hands. “The usual,” I thought. So I chucked eight inches of directions, disclaimers and diagrams into the bin. Then I peed and prayed. Trying to fool the gods into thinking they would be cursing me, I circled the house. …
Originally published in 50-Word Stories, December 14, 2022 When the doctor guided Josue into the world, his grandmother’s face crinkled in glee. “We’re fifteen now!” she squealed. The next month another doctor studied her tissue. When the pulley lowered her out of the world, bent faces crumpled in pain. “We’re fourteen now,” someone whispered while …
Originally published in Burningwood Literary Journal While her husband drove, Margaret kept her eyes closed, trying to identify each roll to the right, each jostle to the left along West Road. She had guessed the first curve was the bend around the Tudor house. The one being gutted behind a green privacy fence. “Privacy? Everyone …
Originally published in 101 Words. In the apartment, we only had a living room. Now the burbs have gifted us a family room, too. Another unnecessity, like the fireplace that will stand sterile in 70-degree winters. “Drywall over it. Then you’ll have another wall,” said the husband. “I don’t need another wall.” My words ricocheted …