Soldiers hurl armfuls of books into the fire as I stare in horror. All those words highlighting the human condition diminished to ash. Heartbreaking. A soldier pauses mid-haul, eyeing me. I adjust my glasses, then scramble to my borrowed postal… Continue Reading
Tara was just returning to work after lunch. She’d eaten a turkey sandwich, drunk her lemon iced tea, and walked six laps around the park before watching the ducks for the final five minutes of her one-hour break. The same… Continue Reading
Your great-grandson Justin is coming over. You pull out the secret candy stash, hidden from your daughter who worries after your diabetes. Your hands creak and crack as you shuffle cards onto the spotless oak table Jack bought you. The… Continue Reading
I was eleven years old when I learned that penguins, in fact, are incapable of flight. It may seem like a mundane — even embarrassing — revelation, but to me, it changed the course of my life. Five years prior… Continue Reading
Oscar stood in the atrium of the central branch of the city library. It was midnight and the only illumination came from amber lights along the walls and the red Exit signs, creating a surreal glow. Oscar inhaled the slight… Continue Reading
From the day we moved into the house, I could sense we weren’t alone. My husband jokingly calls me “his little psychic,” and trivializes my perceptions, so I resolved this time to keep silent. The house was offered fully furnished… Continue Reading
Dusty, peeling eucalyptus trees lined the dirt walkway that led from the library back to my grandma’s house. I carried four books, all I was allowed to check out, close to my chest. I walked quickly, eyes cast to the… Continue Reading
One of the most notorious episodes in the Aleph Club’s history of course was the time it agreed to purchase an infinite library from a mysterious South American salesman passing through on business. “It will be just like that time… Continue Reading
In a box of mixed up secondhand books, something needs to stand out. This one did. Its title, How to Disappear; Vanishment Made Easy, caught my eye at once, mixed in with cheap novels from the Fifties and various “How… Continue Reading
Emily closed the book she had been reading to her sister Stacy. She squeezed it tightly for a forever moment before letting it go. It reassured her to think that the pages with no space between them all reinforced each… Continue Reading