Talking Dirty
By Beth Sherman In the supply closet of the Paramus Walmart, Jeremy takes out his phone and his father’s credit card and dials 1-800-TITS. He’s hoping he’ll get Miranda but it’s all so random. When someone starts talking, Jeremy knows right away it’s not her. This girl is older, her voice less husky. What’s your pleasure,…
Marisol’s Death Plan
By Dipti Ranganathan Marisol twirled around the coffee table in her red, frilled dress, skimming the glass with her bandaged knees, clapping overhead in time to the Bee Gees’ greatest hits. She reached her crescendo with a classic Travolta move and bowed. We jumped to our feet and clapped. She looked around the room, as…
The Baby We’ve Always Wanted Is Almost Here
By Rebecca Klassen For nine months you’ve been eating the best things for our child. Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte; you ate the shredded pages with chopsticks. I smashed the calculator and you swallowed the buttons and shattered microprocessor like aspirin. The mortarboard took you weeks; so chewy! Now you’re pushing and I seem… azure curls, a…
Falling
By Meg McGovern 11:00 pm. I am in a deep REM sleep when the light from my phone startles me awake. His name scrolls across the top. I fumble to grab it, my voice course, “What’s the matter?” “I’m in the hospital, Mom. I had a bad rock-climbing fall…about 20 feet down. The ER is…
The Last May
By Toby Hecht Before the family doctor, the radiologist, the surgeon, and the oncologist informed her in sober tones of the worst, she had already suspected, as many people in her situation do, that it was time to get her affairs in order. She began taking photographs of the blazing magenta azaleas, the feathery white…
Pick of the Litter
By Devin James Leonard Spread across the table lies a machete, an ax, a knife, a pistol, a baseball bat, a can of gas (I assume it comes with a lighter or matches), and piano wire for strangling. Aside from the gas can, everything sparkles as if they are brand new. The options are endless,…
Maggie and Sam in Central Park
By Townsend Walker Maggie met Sam, a four-pound golden carp, at The Lake in Central Park near Strawberry Fields. The day had been blistering. She sat under the willow tree where the reeds grew, took off her sandals, slipped her feet into the cool water. Sam saw painted toes dangling in the reeds, toes painted…
The Pink Scarf
By Hilary Hersh Laura turned the corner and her eyes rested on the navy blue awning of her building just down the block. That almost-home feeling was a balm for both her body and her mind. Today, the walk had been especially tedious, as her legs, exhausted from standing in the classroom all day, felt…
The Retired Men’s Maintenance Club
By Chris Cottom It starts when my washing machine goes on the blink and Neville next door insists I use his. He looks at my sad bundle. “Only half a load?” “I struggle to fill it … nowadays.” “Same here, mate.’”He touches his hand to my shoulder. “Aww, Helen will be looking down at you.”…
At the Door
A Memoir by William Mann I bought Maggie from a local breeder when she was eight weeks old. She was a German Shepherd, and for the first year she chewed through two leashes and a section of baseboard in the upstairs hallway. Then one evening a man came to the door selling something, and she…
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