April hated her name with a vengeance, and the reason was simple. On the first day of her namesake month — the month of her birth as it so happened — she was inevitably the target of every wannabe prankster’s… Continue Reading
“‘Pretty as a picture, no need for brains!’ Daddy always said.” Dora preens at her reflection in the bistro’s art deco mirror, “Well, now I look pretty smart too, don’t I?” Her own joke slides by unnoticed. “Yes, you do.”… Continue Reading
Dimitri tolerated the crown. It was too sparkly, and the duct tape itched his stone scalp, but he put up with it because the new homeowners were young. “Just Married.” Right now, everything was the first: first house, first lawn,… Continue Reading
The red lights flashing through the windows reflect in my drink. The stories those shattered billboards tell are misleading relics of a dead time. It’s a shallow message, lost to the war that took my daughter, Sarah, and left of… Continue Reading
I park my truck across the street from Julie’s house most nights. She’s not there anymore, not since graduation. But I sit in the cab anyway with my pistol — the snub nose .38 I saved three months to buy… Continue Reading
The heady scent of caramelizing onions wafted through the Cooking Network’s kitchen studio, although it was well past midnight. Mandy Sweet looked up from the baking table, where she’d been kneading bread dough. “Remember Andre’s rule for goulash,” she said.… Continue Reading
Robbo shook his aerosol spray and started with a broad sweep of his arm. The rattle of ball bearings in the can gave way to a gentle hiss as silver paint frosted the arch beneath the canal bridge. He worked… Continue Reading
She doesn’t flinch as the counterfeits in white aprons — her co-conspirators — arrange the raw seafood on her skin. Pink and white, tuna and squid, their hands drop the squares in circles, sweeping the meat in spirals over her stomach,… Continue Reading
Farren lay in the dark, listening to the quiet drip drop of the rain. He stretched, wincing at layer on layer of bruises. His cot creaked as he settled on his side and listened. There was no answering sound from… Continue Reading
The first was a flat tyre. Tim rolled up in good time, wrench in hand, smile in place. “Knights of the Road.” She laughed with relief. In her forties, bottle-blonde highlights. Hint of desperation that predated, he guessed, the roadside… Continue Reading