She has been hearing a faint ticking above her. Not regular, only after long pauses. She turns on the lamp beside her, gets out of bed, stands beneath the ceiling fan from which she’s sure the sound originates. It’s not… Continue Reading
“Eureka!” the man exclaims to his wife as they settle into Adirondack chairs on their favorite lounging dock, nestled in the shade on the far edge of the lake. “It’s perfect. The end of the rainbow.” The water sparkles gold… Continue Reading
Shelly loved Mama’s garden. It didn’t have as many pretty flowers as Gramma’s, but it also didn’t have so many thorns. Shelly hated thorns. Their vindictive little spikes would scrape her arms and legs whenever she tried to explore, patterning… Continue Reading
Insects always died beneath the paisley curtains of my childhood bedroom. It never bothered me to see the dried-up bodies of ladybugs in the dust of the hardwood. Their rust-colored exoskeletons were amusing to play with, making a satisfying pop… Continue Reading
I found myself lurching across an uneven desert, fastidiously placing each foot on juts of serrated grains of silicon that kept trying to pitch me on to my feelers. Whatever my purpose in life might prove to be, my objective… Continue Reading
Grampa Don hated houseflies. To hear him talk you’d think there weren’t no flies in Chicago, but we visited once and there were flies a’plenty, I assure you. But when Grampa stayed with us he was forever complaining about flies… Continue Reading
At last the little firefly broke the silence between him and the stranger on the branch. “Lovely night without a moon. Bulb’s still dead on the farmhouse porch to boot. Yes sir, nice and dark.” “Paradise indeed,” the bigger fly… Continue Reading
I saw it while taking out the garbage, the biggest beetle I’d ever seen. It lay on its back, black and shiny like plastic wrap. The insect kicked its segmented legs in the air like a futile attempt to ride… Continue Reading
Zamira Rosa slumped in the chair, feigned grogginess, and tested the twine bindings. The stench from the two intruders overpowered the smells of the hominy and meat that bubbled in the cast iron pot, though she could tell it was… Continue Reading
Bill couldn’t breathe. The heavy, wet body of the helicopter pilot crushed painfully against his chest, lolling over his neck in a grotesque hug. Bill swung helplessly at him as the aircraft groaned and lunged in its perch. All Bill… Continue Reading