JURY DUTY • by Dana Hufe
They had met at jury duty. A strange place to find an admirer. She didn’t want to go. It was raining out, and she had been watching a movie on her couch. She hadn’t moved much from her couch in… Continue Reading
cafés
HIJABI BARISTA • by Regina Higgins
We’d already had the sign out for three days, and no real prospects. You’d think with the plant closed and the holidays so close, we’d have got a few bites, at least. But only Ron came in, and that was… Continue Reading
THE USUAL • by Heidi Espenscheid Nibbelink
The loud man says, “You know how to tell he’s lying — when his lips are moving,” like it’s news. Across the room the man with the butterfly bandage taped across the bridge of his nose thinks he’s the one… Continue Reading
PLAYING REALITY • by Taylor Shepeard
Tension builds as the line grows, its tail of bodies winding around the wooden bar. Kaleb eyes the people entering, frenzied in their need to start the day with caffeine. Dreary-eyed, he’s tempted to take a long swig of the… Continue Reading
IT COULD BE US • by Alexander Burns
The prisoner possessed an incredible capacity for anguish. We crushed entire galaxies, literally crushed them beneath our boots (BOOTS device of course but who can remember what the acronym stands for?), and he would not give up his associates. So… Continue Reading