We occupied the café, waiting, as always waiting, bathed in music constantly spinning from the Wurlitzer 1015, the Bubbler, the smells of bacon and coffee ever present. We waited on doom, on disaster, on mobilization to rescue the hapless. We… Continue Reading
“I want to be a witch,” said the girl. She was a young thing, plump and pale as milk, with watery eyes that barely qualified as blue. As ordinary-looking as it was possible for a child to be without turning… Continue Reading
After our first month together, Naomi said she loved me. I’m used to that. Not to say I’m special. At least not for the reason exes have always given — or would give, if they were honest. I suspected Naomi… Continue Reading
Smoke started coming out of the Corolla’s vents on the freeway and I was still in my costume. To make matters worse, I couldn’t fly. Since Mom kicked me out I had been living at the Sunrise Motel and spending… Continue Reading
Our winter cave is on the mountainside. Mam is there. My brother Dar and I abandon her when we move to the river lodge. We cannot leave her, I say. Dar cuffs my ears. But I see water in his… Continue Reading
Marya stared at the whitish-yellow coffee beans in front of her, shoulders hunched. “Try again,” Dad snapped. Marya bit the inside of her lip. She was trying, but her coffee beans stayed stubbornly un-fermented. She’d never be a proper coffee… Continue Reading
Finish up your chicken, child; those potatoes and green beans. Seventh-Hour Man will get’cha if your supper plate’s not clean. — A childhood cautionary The Canuck Territories | 1 September 1905 Charlie Haggard always felt more alive after a wedding,… Continue Reading
Kelsey draws an invisible line on the kitchen floor, all the way around so that when she straightens, she stands in an imaginary circle. “There,” she says to Kyle, “That’s my line in the sand. Don’t cross it.” Kyle crosses… Continue Reading
The tree was old, but not as old as the soldier lying at its roots. When the Armies of the Cumberland and Tennessee slaughtered each other in the forest by the river, the tree was only a sky-blue berry. Trampled… Continue Reading
You swing that sword around because it’s the only thing you know how to do. Because when the rain comes down at night, clinging to it is the only thing that yields any solace. You don’t know how you would’ve… Continue Reading