Adrienne’s name is stitched to the pocket of her white blouse, which is tucked into her short black skirt. Standing behind the counter at Drakeville Diner, she winks at Arthur Coleman and fills his coffee cup. He nods. She tries… Continue Reading
A few weeks after my grandmother’s death, her quilt began crawling from her bed in the early hours and roaming downstairs. You’d hear the rustle as it went past the door, and in the morning find it curled somewhere, like… Continue Reading
“Your résumé looks impressive. Why do you need this job?” Brodie hesitated, just for a moment. “I am thinking of staying on another term to study medieval Swiss and French monastic philosophy. As my scholarship has ended, I need to… Continue Reading
Twice a day, walking to and from work, the lecturer passes a building whose entrance has one door open and one shut. Twice a day he turns his head to avoid it. Then he thinks: if only I could slip… Continue Reading
Listen to “The Art of Opening an Oyster” by Sierra B. Ryan, read by Folly Blaine: [display_podcast] Sierra B. Ryan writes and reads in Philadelphia, USA. She just received her Masters in literature and is not liking this whole “real… Continue Reading
From the crack between the two warped boards of our fence, I can’t really see Randy’s yard — just the small tree house where we’d hung his piñata this morning, and the shady spot where I’d sat eating Randy’s birthday… Continue Reading
Immaculately dressed, Mr. Francis would wait at the Railway station each day, watching the multitudes of people embark and disembark with every train that came to a screeching halt. He would gaze at the vendors parading their wares along the… Continue Reading
Basic rules of public transportation; stay on the right of the escalators, don’t make eye contact, don’t leave anything behind. The station is a mix of ancient and new, stone statues and plastic signs, coffee stalls and Gothic arches. I… Continue Reading
Once upon a time, long ago, when bees were flowers and flowers had knees, there lived a group of primordial squash in a wide field near a stream under the star-riddled sky. There were other groups of squash around, mixed… Continue Reading
The hole’s initial appearance in the wood was insidious and attracted little attention. Only Old Jack perceived the subtle change in certain animals’ behaviour; the robin, for example, performing indignant sorties over its invaded territory. When it finally became too… Continue Reading