Singleton is a country town in New South Wales, with about sixteen thousand residents, but on a Monday lunchtime during the Covid lockdown not one of them was on the street. Amelia, lecturer in philosophy of history at Sydney University,… Continue Reading
Frank prided himself on being a conscientious drunk. Sure, after a few drinks, he’d talk a bit louder than usual, and there was that hot feeling in his ears that felt a little too cozy to be healthy. Yet all… Continue Reading
Caesar sat up, gasping, his shoulder hitting Calpurnia in the chin. The semi-familiar setting of his wife’s room made it more difficult to gain his bearings. And he still had a phantom pain in his chest and back from the… Continue Reading
I glanced into the prayer room, hoping it would be empty, but it wasn’t. Becky was there. The sun was shining quite brightly into the prayer room, and somehow Becky’s smile was brighter. Becky had invited me to pray with… Continue Reading
She had been talking with the man on the balcony long enough that the beads of condensation on their wine glasses had evaporated. The man’s face reminded her of a beach, full of reddish freckles and seashell-white teeth. Even the… Continue Reading
In that dreary mid-March, mid-semester time, Larry found it hard to get up. Long after his wife, Cheryl, left the house for her student sewing circle and after his own alarm sounded, he lay awake. He listened to a dragging… Continue Reading
I slammed the closet door and begged whatever divine entity was making the planet twirl on its axis to just give me a break for once. “I’m supposed to be in St. Croix, Mom. This really sucks.” “Stop whining,” Mom… Continue Reading
self-raising flour caster sugar mixed spice butter lard currant egg milk bread potatoes peas Bisto Delyth looks at the slanted writing, the looping gs, and the capitalized B for Bisto with its flourishes, making even this common-or-garden shopping list look… Continue Reading
In the beginning, there were only seven of her. Perfect reproductions, each and every one, from the proud, particular curve of her nose right down to the swollen knuckle on her left thumb (the result of a childhood break). The… Continue Reading
He saw her reflection in the chipped mirror on the wall. She was standing, gazing out the window, her back stiff with anger. They had driven for an hour, through deeper and deeper stone-cold silence and unforgiving mutual accusations, the… Continue Reading