Sarah had given up on trust. Then she met Harley. He was so oozy with charm, she stopped being careful. He would tell her how pretty she looked in her print dress even though she was wearing a pantsuit. And just as she was about to correct him, he would give her his dazzle smile, […]
Fiction 80
Joseph Rogers: Go Children Slow
There are a few different routes from here; it all depends who’s in the car with you. Say it’s her—she’s probably beside you on the front seat of a ’78 Impala with all your friends’ initials carved into the maroon foam on the roof. Her initials are right next to yours. They were the first […]
Andrew Palmer: Homage
A series of conversations about breaking stuff. “I really don’t want to talk about this.” “Fine. Okay,” said Kate. This was just last night. Long silence for a phone conversation, maybe ten seconds, maybe even fifteen or twenty. Not twenty. But long. Maybe fifteen. “But,” he said, “we’re gonna talk about it anyway, aren’t we,” […]
R.G. O’Reilly: Father Image
Timmy and his younger brother Chip waited at the door of the Brooklyn Gardens shuttle bus. The bus leaned to one side, hissed and threw open its doors. “Thanks, mister!” they yelled to the driver as they jumped to the sidewalk. Chip loosened the necktie noose that had been strangling him through the Mass. “Why […]
Wendy Fox: The Fire Time
In the fire time we lived for days without sunlight or air. You and I grew up in the eastern Washington desert, the dry side of the Cascades, where we spoke of rain the way we spoke of the dead: with reverence, with longing, without hope of return. We lived in the country, and I […]
Rachel Chalmers: Light Industrial
1. A streak of blood “Darling, it’s me, Pats,” says the telephone. John wipes the crunchy bits out of the corners of his eyes and tries to wake up. “Talked Nige into it. You’re on. Can you start today? Before he changes his mind. When can you be here?” It’s seven am. “Come as soon […]