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 […]
Fiction
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 […]
Elizabeth Thorpe: William Tell
Tell me, William, was it worth it? Do you remember the long shadows in that square, the way your shoes scuffed on the cobblestones, the way the multitudes cowered at the perceived authority of one man? Not you. You walked on by. So many of us work and work to make a legacy, but when […]
Catherine Parnell: Sirens
My father calls twice from the small hospital in our town – the first time he says: “They are working on her.” The second time, less than three minutes later, he says: “Your mother is dead.” I tell him to stay where he is, that I will come and get him, that he can’t drive […]
Mariko Nagai: How We Touch the Ground, How We Touch
As usual, another season of betrayal must follow the harvest. During the harvest, we are safe. On the field, we whisper half a phrase and hum fragmented sounds of words amongst us, messages of the Carpenter-Son hidden in broken phrases of weather and harvest. We bend our backs to cut the stalks, huddling as close […]