Fiction
Errands for Sir
On Thursdays, because he got home past midnight, Yadav wouldn’t sound the car horn. He’d wait outside and flick the headlights on and off. If..
Section
Fiction
Showing 481-504 of 565 pieces
Fiction
The Brick
There is a photograph of my mother standing in front of the chain link fence around the Chevron Oil Plant in Richmond, several minutes before…
Fiction
Pieces
It happened first in the shower. Sasha stood, scrubbing her body, her mind occupied on the day, on when the man might be answering her…
Fiction
A Life, A Book, A Chance
Veronika usually woke a few minutes before the church bells rang. This day she had been up for hours, tossing and turning in her small…
Fiction
I, etcetera
I suppose a certain kind of Calcutta novel can be written. By a certain kind of Southern Avenue Calcuttan such as me. These are read…
Fiction
An Ambiguous Weekend
Richard’s clay sculptures could say a great deal about him. Luckily, he did not sculpt very often. He spent most of his time bagging groceries…
Fiction
Kulfi
Pushpa did not know about the Gospels. In fact, she barely knew anything about Jesus. But she would have appreciated one of his teachings—to be…
Fiction
Alizarin Crimson
Mr. Hartley took a small canvas the size of a notebook from the table at the front of the classroom. “You’ll apply the alizarin first….
Fiction
The Lighthouse Keeper
My father had a job as a lighthouse keeper. His lighthouse could be seen from all over town – on account of our town being…
Fiction
Maxim Kolosov
I’d never seen a man die before. Not before this. I would’ve looked away had I known what was coming, that he was jumping for…
Fiction
The Cleaner
David stared at the long black stain. He had tried everything he could to clean it from the otherwise pristine white shirt, but nothing had…
Fiction
The Animals Among Us
I. Aves When the little boy double crossed the shetani¸ Great Heron assumed her true spirit form and cursed him, placing her hands upon the…
Fiction
The Ambassador
My father was my hero. When he was ten, he went into the cigar factory. He sat on a long bench. His father sat on…
Fiction
On the Morning He Was To Leave Mortalus
On the morning he was to leave Mortalus for the drive south to California, while walking to the library to return three DVD’s starring Theresa…
Fiction
Clean Break
Alessa wakes to the sound of bickering and with no idea where she is. There’s a television on somewhere and the bickering is just two…
Fiction
Second Language
Sapna sips her café au lait on the patio of the Alliance Française de Bangalore. The styrofoam cup squeaks between her fingers, the beverage is…
Fiction
Before the War
She leaned back against a bit of plywood spraypainted with hieroglyphics that had once signified a neighborhood swept and cleared. Her piousness was a beacon,…
Fiction
Property
“I hate you!’ Maya cried and dashed to the bedroom, kicking the door behind her. The heavy door, solid seasoned-teak, swayed but stopped short of…
Fiction
A Curious Thing Happened
If she had known what lay in store for her that day, she might have worn better shoes. She had squeezed her feet into narrow…
Fiction
The Nighttime Crossing
There was finally a moonless night when Andrew drove his car to Sandy Point and boarded the last ferry of the day to the Eastern…
Fiction
The Visit
Garland Breazeale was the last lawyer remaining in the courthouse’s library. Of course, “library” was a generous description for the cramped space in the building’s…
Fiction
The Old Suitcase
“Here take this”, Radha plonked a big old VIP suitcase in front of me, “one of the locks is broken, but I don’t think that…
Fiction
Fly Girl
I haven’t thought about her in two days. Guilt guiding my feet, I climb the rickety wooden ladder to the attic, wipe the dust off…
Fiction
Theodore
Theodore Gabriel Watson awoke early on the day he was to unintentionally kill a fifteen-year-old white girl, feeling like a diseased mouse had crawled inside…