Whoopee, Hallelujah!
By Meg Pokrass After a month with the psychic, Dad slunk home. Said he’d been in a trance but the spell finally broke. “I’m home in exactly one piece.” Mom glared, said “Whoopee Hallelujah!” Took Dad’s hand and the two of them hip-bumped down toward tracks. Only then, did I hear the train. …
The Last of the Marlboro Women
By Connie Millard Dottie Dilberto was the last smoker at BusyBee, LLC. She knew it, but no one else did. In her thirty years of employment (had it been that long?), she despaired as her plethora of smoking buddies had dwindled from twelve to three to none. She missed rehashing what happened on her…
Of Love & Longing
By Wendy K. Mages Gran’s holiday feast. Warm cinnamon doughnuts on dainty doilies. Fragrant aromas wafting, mingling, harmonizing with hints of the pipe tobacco Grandad pretends he never smokes. Candles flicker. Flavors of love and longing, music, and laughter. A symphony of sentiments, sounds, and scents—yesteryear enveloped in wrapping paper, ribbon, and yearning. * *…
Maybe This Isn’t A Dream
By Simone Swart This is a dream in which my future husband and my grandmother go shopping together. First, they go to a lamp store. (I say lamp store because this store sells only a very large amount of lighting.) There are Tiffany table lamps with colorful shades. There are floor lamps with adjustable…
Never Forgotten
By Tom Alberti Standing at the monument, I feel a heavy weight on my chest. Tears stream down my cheeks, just as they did twenty-one years ago. A chill runs down my spine, contrasting with the scorching sun that bathes my body. The gentle fall breeze brushes against my skin, barely noticeable. With a sense…
Barista Central
By Arvilla Fee I’m going to conduct an experiment. No; I’m not a retired science teacher; I’m a retired speech and debate teacher, and I believe today’s working young people have lost the ability to make eye contact and care about their customers. Here’s how I know. I’ve been going to Barista Central every day…
Stars and Salt
By Ella St. John The diner was part of a filling station and sat along the highway on the outskirts of town. It was mid-afternoon and cold, nine inches of February snow on the ground. At a table for two, next to a frosty window, the girl sat alone. Each chime of the bell hanging…
Young Poet at Workshop
By Victoria Garton This was before young writers studied and got MFA after their names and therefore knew they were poets. This was when colleges brought in the friends of English professors as visiting poets and made chump change on spring poetry workshops. This was when young mothers who penned lines mostly kept the…
My Eureka Moment
By Jedediah Smith After several years of marriage, I filled the bathtub to the very rim with hot water. Stepping into it, I found that the water did not rise or spill over the edge. I called to my wife and said, Look, I displace nothing. I am one with the water. I have found…
Traveler
By Angelica Liu It is a beautiful morning, beautiful but sentimental. For the first time this year, she notices that the heart-shaped leaves on the tree that is framed by her bedroom window have taken on their autumn hues. Through the gaps between the blinds, she can see them shine in the sunlight as radiant…
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