Emily was beside herself. Literally, beside herself. She wasn’t sure what happened or how it was even possible. One minute she was on the 2 train sitting between a woman reading The Alchemist (cliché) and a business suit with a cell phone clipped to his belt. (Also cliché. Also tacky and gauche). The next minute … More Emily, Beside Herself by Jennifer Fliss
When I was growing up, we had a twenty-five-inch screen television in every room. I watched the Doors perform “Light My Fire” on Ed Sullivan in my bedroom when I was just a little kid. Dad was home from work, sucking down a bumper of beer in his easy chair in the family room, Walter … More Watching TV by John Talbird
By Damyanti Biswas Omi remembered the summer he turned six for different reasons. He lost his first tooth, Grandpa died in a faraway Indian village, and Grandma came to live with them in their tiny apartment in Florida. But of that summer, he remembered best the stories Grandma told him, speaking in a firm, clear … More The Adventures Of The Moving Lump
By Damyanti Biswas From a distance, she took him for a boy. But on looking closer, Laura knew him for a boy-sized man, one of those people nature chooses to sport with. She felt a gush of rage. She wanted to gather him up in her soft arms and tell him he looked good in … More For All The Men Who Slept With Her
Vintage Binoculars by Leah Browning Danny found them on a shelf at the back of the shop. The thin leather strap was worn to a string on one side, and missing its snap, but someone had looped it through and tied it in a knot. They were otherwise in good condition, for their age. He took them to … More Vintage Binoculars
GRAYSCALE by Brian Burmeister A month after Mom passed, I went back to the house to pack up. In the corner of her closet, buried under a pile of blankets, was a box within a box. Inside were dozens of aged, black-and-white photos of my mother with a man I didn’t know. There were no … More GRAYSCALE
Flight 2418 By Paul Bergstraesser “Sir?” Was she talking to him? Who knew. He kept his eyes closed. “Sir.” Yeah, it was him. He took a deep breath and looked at the flight attendant. Her face was artificial-nice from corporate training but underneath he read sourness and disgust. Wasn’t the first time somebody had been repulsed by … More Flight 2418
BY HSIEN CHONG TAN When I was a little girl in New York, I loved to ride the subway. Back then, I didn’t care about the grime or the roaches. And the weirdoes on board didn’t scare me. I liked how a bunch of buskers would just pop on the train, play a song, and … More MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH TRAINS
Loretta, the cleaning woman, went at the picture window in the living room with a bottle of Windex, wiping in hard slashes. She always makes faces while she cleans, as if we live like animals on the days she doesn’t come. When she was finished, she dusted her hands off and said, “I don’t think I can get this house no cleaner, Mrs. T.,” like that’s my fault. … More HOLES
