Fiction
Blue Sugar
It was time. Mama and Daddy said it was time. I was almost nineteen years old. I could haul wood, split logs, drive Daddy’s tractor,..
Section
Short Fiction
Showing 169-192 of 310 pieces
Fiction
“La Tele”
Alessa’s mother left for work at 6 a.m. cada día, not a minute too early and not a segundo too late. Within fifteen minutes, Alessa..
Fiction
Monumental
When he fell, Frank Wetherell became the sixty-first worker to die in the construction of the tower. It would be another year and three weeks..
Fiction
Dad of Mine
Sometimes I’d worry that the greatest thing about me, the thing the world would remember me for above all else, was Dad. Mom was great..
Fiction
The Wall
The headline was the death of someone the media called a ‘bright young actor’. Abha took a sip of her morning tea and went on..
Fiction
Call Me Ishmael
My mother once called me Hannah, though she didn’t know it was me. A future preacher once called me a bribe from Satan as I..
Fiction
The Color of Being Alive
Our world is cold and gray. Grandmother tells me it wasn’t always like this. I find that hard to believe. This is all my brother..
Fiction
The Art of Pickling Green Beans
The aging Ford shudders its way down US 95 just south of Rome, Oregon with a rust-colored optimism I do not share. Woven seat covers,..
Fiction
Grocery Delivery
“God, I want your hair,” Mary shouts as I deliver five bags of groceries to her. Her wrinkly white index finger is pointing at my..
Fiction
He Says
He says he wants to quit smoking, but by now those words are perfunctory. Along with I need to go for a run and we..
Fiction
Hanging Laundry
She died at the age of thirty, at the clothesline in her own back yard on the first day of summer vacation. Dropped straight to..
Fiction
The Garden Spy: A Diptych
The Garden Spy is from Aamer Hussein’s anthology, Restless. The book is a collage of fugitive fictions, reminiscences of friends, and personal essays which, when read in sequence, offer an unofficial picture of one writer’s private and public lives.
Fiction
The Night Jumpers
The moonlight shined on your brown hair, wet and wavy from the sandy river’s flow. My toes clung to the bark underneath my feet, and..
Fiction
Saving Elmore James
A thin line sometimes is all that separates genius from insanity. A person with a gift for music is called a prodigy, while the person..
Fiction
A Wonderful World
Sarah giggled as Ian breathed on her neck. “I forgot about how passionate you are. It’s like we’re teenagers all over again.” “We shouldn’t have..
Fiction
The Last Day of School
A bustling, well-tarred road divides the educational potential of Kasipatti town by gender. On one side lies the Kasipatti Boys’ Senior Secondary School. On the..
Fiction
A Summer Holiday
Five glasses of lemon squash are placed in front of us. Mummy has taught me to never be the first one to reach out for..
Fiction
That Year, This Time (A Summer Yarn)
“I’m coming in a minute. Hold the door for me, won’t you, Robi!” Madhura yelled from somewhere deep inside the house. Robi, her son, was..
Fiction
Flowers & Stars
Looking back, no-one could remember when the clown first appeared on the corner by the park. Everyone agreed that it was sometime last spring and,..
Fiction
Who Cares for the Dead
A lean man of average height with intelligent eyes set far apart, a narrow chin, and a mouth that sloped downward at its corners, August..
Fiction
Fear and Feathers
Every evening, she set up the altar afresh, because she couldn’t leave it out overnight. Even if it didn’t rain, the dew at dawn was..
Fiction
The Jim Crow Dope
“There’s not supposed to be a test,” I said. The man behind the table gave me a skewed look, his mouth turned in a malignant..
Fiction
Land Lore
Alan finds a glade with no overhead branches that might come crashing down if winds blow up. But hard ground, rough with exposed pebbles, frustrates..
Fiction
Gender Reveal
Jordan chewed on her pinky nail until it started to bleed. “Shit!” She reached over Avery’s lap, opened the glove box, and pulled out a..