Fiction
Big Dusty
To Russell, always called ‘Dusty’ since the day he was born, his father was a big man; not just big but BIG. He had big..
Section
Fiction
Showing 361-384 of 555 pieces
Fiction
The Combination Padlock
A man couldn’t remember the combination to a padlock. He didn’t want to break it, so he tried 0000, then 0001. He was prepared to..
Fiction
Silver Lining
Everyone knows people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, you catch more flies with honey, that love makes the world go round. This..
Fiction
The Water
They sat across from one another at the cheap station café. Trayfuls of tea, carelessly poured into narrow-waisted teacups, hovered around them. They were each..
Fiction
A Writer in the Sun
A verb is a nation. That’s what I’d tell you over coffee. I’d also tell you that writing has its own economy. Supply and demand…
Fiction
Friends of Ferry Point Park
Condolences, the card read and—she flipped it over—nothing else. Tara Contreras opened the door to her apartment and, without meaning to, thought: Better late than..
Fiction
I Know You Rider
Ryan and Walker stood in the doorway of the railcar as the train chugged through a crossing in Homerville, Georgia. The town, like many along..
Fiction
Chili Man
Once I came across a homeless person in Seattle. He asked for money. I gave him a dollar. He said, “Don’t you have five bucks?”..
Fiction
Food Baby
I knew, from the moment I woke up in Akihabara, in that spare white hotel room overlooking the five-story mall full of flashing red robots,..
Fiction
An Approximate Accumulation
Things were desperate. The editing work had all but dried up. No matter how many writing-related jobs I applied for on the freelancing websites I’d..
Fiction
Bridal Palanquin
Bhaggan had told me many times why Saffiya had been traveling on the train the day they found me. Bibi Saffiya’s husband had died, and..
Fiction
Double Date
He wasn’t as good looking as the man she’d always hoped to marry, but she recalled her therapist’s unsubtle hints that she shouldn’t wait aimlessly..
Fiction
The Sow
The old sow glared at Elrod with a sort of benign insolence. It was perhaps the ugliest thing the boy had ever seen. Its skin..
Fiction
Fade to Gray
I always sat in the chair by the window. That had become “my” spot during committee meetings. From my chair, I could look out the..
Fiction
Different Lives
Chris My alarm shrieks. It’s 6:57. Out of bed and into yesterday’s clothes. Dizzy from alcohol and insufficient sleep, I step into the morning under-dressed. ..
Fiction
Tarla’s Homecoming
Nakul sat straight in a vest with two holes in it and old pajamas. He didn’t make eye contact with his wife Tarla who was..
Fiction
Dharavi Dreams
Hi. My name is Abdul. Abdul Sheikh. I work at a cyber café not very far from where I live. But don’t bother. Not very..
Fiction
One Fainting Robin
The first time I saw her, my heart stopped. I mean, it really did stop, I died. Me? Who could believe that? I was sixteen..
Fiction
Votive Candle
“Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace camino al andar.” – Antonio Machado One dollar Australian only buys Barb one votive candle, or so goes the..
Fiction
So Far
Shankatahara Chathurthi: auspicious day dedicated to Ganesha … is observed … on the fourth day of … the waning lunar phase … – Internet Sarasu..
Fiction
Fight Night
Cleveland woke to roosters crowing at daybreak downstairs in one of the hotel garden courtyards. He and Anong had left the balcony door open by..
Fiction
Almajiri
AThe woman standing outside in the drizzling rain without an umbrella is Suspect X and has been under surveillance a while now. A black leather..
Fiction
Three Nights to Marriage
Tell her, just tell her, I told myself. She towered over me on Broadway as we crossed in front of traffic, her long legs stretching..
Fiction
The Painting
She could not reconcile the large oil painting hanging in the shadowed hallway of the assisted living suite with the frail woman lying on the..