Samantha etched the white oak onto her hand and arm: her wrist and forearm the trunk, her fingers the branches, fingertips the leaves, and on her palm the date and our initials. She wrote our first kiss inside her upper… Continue Reading
The cars quietly drifted up and down the cables all night long. Talking to each other. Mumbling. Thinking. Hullo. Hullo. Good evening, Totem, sang the red gondola. It was a low, drone song. Good evening, Ewe, sang the blue gondola.… Continue Reading
Our brief interview involved more cannibalism than I would have guessed. At the river with my kids, on the last day of summer, and my son is picking up rocks along the shore finding snakes and wolf spiders hauling egg… Continue Reading
Butterfly Boy is watching TV in the trailer park house he shares with his ma, Jeannie. His castle is guarded by a moat of cigarette butts and beer bottles. His face is brown like hers, but the bandages covering his… Continue Reading
I was killing time at a dinner party when I first encountered the wooden rabbit. I found myself wandering through Ted and Jerry’s house, wineglass in hand, peering at framed photographs on the wall, inspecting curios on shelves, and reading… Continue Reading
The IHOP disappeared first, the one Jake went to with Momma and Daddy, then just Daddy, the few times he’d been back. The waitress at the diner up the road had no memory of it. Yes, she was sure, and… Continue Reading
Ludvic had not always lived underground. He had once been a respected member of the community: attended church with his family, valued a hard day’s work. People waved to him in town, and he waved back. It was from one… Continue Reading
Molly wishes her alive again and jumps as the door slides open. “Hi, there,” her mother says. “Knock next time!” Molly shouts. “You taught me that.” “Yes.” Her mother’s tone is apologetic, looking down at her bare feet. “You forgot.”… Continue Reading
It was Jaimie’s turn to draw a card. The back of the downturned deck shimmered turquoise in the candlelight in Clara’s darkened bedroom. Turquoise was Jaimie’s favourite colour. As she stared at it, the surface of the card expanded and… Continue Reading
Maria stood in the driveway of her tiny home, a sturdy, red-handled broom in hand. A storm had passed through. Brown spotted leaves, pine needles, the lost blooms of pink impatiens and assorted scatterlings were before her in random piles,… Continue Reading