By Nicole Mancha I shift in my chair for the fifth time in twice as many minutes, attempting to relieve the discomfort of the stiff metal backing against my spine. Dr. Maryanne Warner sits across from me, scribbling furiously. It’s exhausting to watch, so I cannot even imagine how it must be for her. SheContinue reading “Madeline”
Tag Archives: Short Story
The Dead Are Smiling
By Melissa R. Mendelson Johnny Cash battled the static, but he was losing, fading in and out. The screen door to the diner wasn’t helping. It screeched opened and clattered shut, and the swearing of the cook in the kitchen was louder than the small radio over the counter by the pies. Even the buzzingContinue reading “The Dead Are Smiling”
Patches of Paradise
By Hart Vetter I. Housesitting If you ask me what I am to Royce, it gets complicated. To his business associates, as we meet for dinner, he’ll introduce me as someone I’m really not, My special friend Marianne. In the car over, he winks, Let them fill in the blanks. Case closed. If you askContinue reading “Patches of Paradise”
Unprotected
By Melissa R. Mendelson (Based on a Dream) I found the camera in the backseat of the car. It was under the driver’s seat. I was curious as to what was on it. Most of the pictures were scenery. There was one video. I played the video, and a teen-aged boy came into view. HeContinue reading “Unprotected”
Tracked
By Rena Robinett AIRPORT I – KALI I was sitting in the United concourse at San Francisco airport sucking Cappuccino foam off a spoon when I spotted him. This was my third time tracking him out of SFO, using a TSA security badge from an old friend. He came out of Terminal Three, walking fastContinue reading “Tracked”
Coffee and Donuts
By David Centorbi I had to go to Miami for a Truth-or-Dare job. ToD was my gig for a long time. The Army taught me well. And they gave me so many opportunities to practice: Somali, Haiti, Iraq 1 and 2, then for some R & R in Cuba—Terrorist Island, where they brought the HeadlinersContinue reading “Coffee and Donuts”
Victor Pauline Reports
By Courtney Webb It was the end of a dry, hot summer in Central Valley. Everything was dusty and reports of fires in the mountains blared from every newscast. In Tranquility, California, a small Central Valley town, Sam Reynolds stared at the morning news with a scowl. The paper was spread out on the kitchenContinue reading “Victor Pauline Reports”
If I Ask Your Opinion
By Andy Betz “If I ask your opinion, would you give me an honest answer?” Rarely do I hear such an unusual question, let alone be awoken by one. But the look in this young man’s eyes displayed a level of desperation and my close seat proximity made me the obvious choice for his inquiry.Continue reading “If I Ask Your Opinion”
Old Ninety-Seven
By Byron Spooner It’s one of those strange evenings when the moonlight reflecting off yesterday’s snow gives the whole world a soft bluish radiance. I’m out wandering around, no particular place to go, anywhere but home, and I see the Field House lights are on. The front door is unlocked. I stomp the snow fromContinue reading “Old Ninety-Seven”
Thinking of You
By Tony Sweatland Danny loves animals. And he hates people. Yesterday he knocked on a door and a woman wearing pj’s answered with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. Meanwhile, not twenty feet away, a small dog shivered in a plastic igloo-style dog house inside a 10’ by 10’ cage. He wrote herContinue reading “Thinking of You”