LIVIE AND LEV • by Peggie Gerber
You might think it’s weird to give your violin a name, but not me. I mean, when you get right down to it, how is it any different than naming a doll or a stuffed animal? The important thing is… Continue Reading
grandparents
A BRIGHT ORGANISM OF DIFFERENCE • by Stephanie A. Smith
Never give up. That became the family’s mantra, even after the basement flooded with sewage for the third, fourth, fifth time. By number five, old Grandad Uchytil figured it was going to be an annual visitation, a smelly, inconvenient, unavoidable… Continue Reading
WECHSELBALG • by Jennifer Peaslee
Every night as a child, Hannah’s Oma had tucked her into bed with tales of changelings that switched with children if parents weren’t vigilant. Hannah still knew the rules to find a Wechselbalg: they can’t touch iron, can’t eat eggshells,… Continue Reading
AN AUTUMN DAY IN THE PARK • by Läilä Örken
My grandmother’s house was full of clocks. They were never wound properly, their haphazard ticking all over the place — a cacophony of irregular mechanical heartbeats — so at any given moment one of them was busy striking or chiming,… Continue Reading
PROPAGATE OR DIE • by Richard Lawrence Bennett
“Tell us, Grandma, please!” the girls said. “Oh, well, it’s not like you have it now, with your beautiful DNA bracelets and your fabulous Russian dances…” “No, Grandma, we’re not yet twenty-one!” Jessica said. “We’re only children.” “Oh, yes,” Grandma… Continue Reading
MY GRANDMOTHER’S VOICE • by C. Mariel
My grandmother’s voice sounded like static, the scratchy noise you hear as you are tuning into an AM radio station. Her awkwardly unique way of communicating was virtually unintelligible to most anyone outside our family circle. When I was around… Continue Reading
TIE A RIBBON ON THE FAIRY TREE • by Rebecca Birch
If I ignore the door hanging half off its hinges and the swallow’s nest surveying the dust from beneath the exposed center beam, Nana’s cottage is little changed from fifteen years ago, when Dad left me here to “find my… Continue Reading
THE CHOCOLATE TEST • by Jane Brown
Katie’s fingers shook as she opened the chocolate box and offered the selection to Phil. It’d been a while since she’d used this test, reserved only for third dates. The final compatibility check. After a string of bad hook-ups, her… Continue Reading
GRANDPA’S PRAYER • by Richard M. O’Donnell, Sr.
“Join hands for prayers,” said Grandma Mercy. Little Thomas cringed. He hated saying prayers before meals, especially in public. Worse, the server had put the steaming pepperoni pizza with extra cheese right under his nose. How could anyone pray with… Continue Reading
BIG YARD DAYS • by Jennifer Schomburg Kanke
Sissy had grown tired of going up and down the hill. Tired of looking at the green of the Appalachians. Tired of looking at Mr. Dixon across the street on his riding mower with his oh so flat and lovely… Continue Reading