Fiction
Starbucks
I turned toward her, trying to appear as though I were looking for a seat or watching out the window.
Section
Fiction
Showing 73-96 of 555 pieces
Fiction
The Door and the Dog
Had I been asleep, I might have missed the sound, like a strange scuttling against the walls. I glanced over at the boy in the corner, but he remained silent
Fiction
October
I stub the butt of my cigarette out and stare blankly at the too trimmed row of bushes bordering our backyard. Michigan is chilly in October. I go inside.
Fiction
The Invasion
The berries they usually found in wild abundance failed to materialize. At first the stories struck her as apocryphal. Bears were reportedly ripping…
Fiction
An Offering to the Gods
A few days later, when they reclaim some of their courage, they call their daughter once more. Kavita explains that her condition is called PTSD.
Fiction
Kathleen
Kathleen was the last appointment of the day. Being of Irish ancestry, I recognized that her ancestors came from the same place.
Fiction
OF THINGS WISE, AND UNWISE!
Megh flings himself on the bed and takes the calendar from the table beside his bed. He has marked today’s date.
Fiction
Drifting
His covers were bunched up and his arm was stretched out towards the door in the ordering gesture. He laid back down.
Fiction
Culpability
The police asked him “to come down the station”. Those were their exact words, as if spoken on a television show, as if there were a script for this kind of thing.
Fiction
The Marionette Collection
Being civically engaged, she began encouraging him to offer marionettes to charity events, fund raisers, parties. They began their marriage this way and the practice continued for years.
Fiction
The Long Death of Asif in the Garden
She left the next morning. Asif did not put up a fight. He simply sat at the kitchen table while she packed her things.
Fiction
Robin’s Egg
Sarah’s mother kissed her on the forehead. “I hadn’t really thought about it.
Fiction
Smoke and Mirrors
Yes, yes, she continued to work while I was building the company but look at what she has now? She drives a Mercedes!
Fiction
THE LITTLE GODDESS
As Didi walks away, you look around and notice the acadia tree by the neighbour’s yard. Two boys are gathered around it, struggling to reach the top branch which holds a prized mango.
Fiction
A Necessary Interlude
Mansi looks at them. They seem terrified. A sense of guilt starts seeping into her heart.
Fiction
Asit, the Horizontal
There was no brain death. Even the night of the full moon came and went, but his brain had other plans.
Fiction
Instructions on Falling
I had my first seizure age 14. This created another original fear.
Fiction
Chlorine Fever
Only the car door and that chain-link fence separate me from the most glorious
Fiction
Crossroads
She was determined to get the shop closed. It was destroying too many families.
Fiction
The Sinners, 1969
The next day I wrote myself a check for $400, detasseling money from the summer,
Fiction
Lost Souls
He had the same easy smile as Patrick, but his eyes were more calculating. They roved over her red flared pants, her pale blue shirt, her hair done up in ringlets.
Fiction
The Calf
Father had gotten the fabric from a business partner who had been to Bombay and it was rumored to be the most expensive of fabrics.
Fiction
Bad Boy
Earlier at dinner Johnny had been singled out, oldest boy, to perform. “Tell us what’s up in the sky at night, Johnny.”
Fiction
Canned Laughter
When Binoy the male nurse joined, Maami shifted with her grandkids and forgot Maama completely. Once, when she accidentally confronted her now forty-kilo husband in the corridor