Oxygen

By Jim Bates The summer when I was eight years old a new highway began being built about a mile from our farm. My older brother Lewis and I were fascinated by the huge, noisy machines: road graders, dump trucks and bulldozers. When our chores were completed, we’d ride over to the creek, go for …

Tongi

By Mehreen Ahmed Tongi It was a glass room, Tongi. Literally, a room which was made of glass built on stilts in the far shade of a village pond. The pond's algae reflected its green on its glass walls. On rainy days, slanting rains fell on it and left its droplets to slide down the glass. Tongi …

Esme

By Wendy Taylor  It sat on a shelf in Dad’s wardrobe and each time I went in to grab a jacket to put on him when we went out for a walk, I saw it there. A bible. I had never really given it a second thought assuming it to be a family bible which …

Ruins

By James Moran When the sun set I went to the ruins. When mother and George fought I went to the ruins. When George convinced the village mother should be executed I went to the ruins. When mounted nomads attacked the village I went to the ruins. Even when a pair of bears inhabited the …

And He Wondered

By Charles Wiegand White steam suddenly began billowing out from under the hood. He pulled over to the side of the road and parked the troubled car in the gravel. He sat there for a moment without moving, then turned off the engine and slowly got out of the car. He stood outside the car …

A Safari Through My Closet

By Joan Mach Ladies and gentlemen, on your left you see the Joan Mach Clothing Wilderness.  For your own safety, please keep your hands and  heads inside the vehicle at all times. This wilderness was formed when the clothing rod in Joan’s spacious walk-in closet broke while she was on vacation.  When she returned, the …

Chain-smoker in Blue Jeans

By Mason Yates For Korbin Ratner, the rural Illinois town Oakdale Ferry could not end its day unless the cotton candy sky melted blue and pink together, or his girlfriend, Tiffany Earman, drove him to the small mom and pop gas station uptown, where he worked overnight as a cashier.  On this particular evening, both …

Lefty

By Judy Lunsford The tumors are in there taunting me. They keep me from being in control. The surgeon is confident that he can drain the cysts. He is also confident that once he drains the cysts that I should get my life back. He is going to be drilling holes in my head. I’ve …

Steps Away from Pragmatism

By Thaddeus Lee There’s a place where all of us go. It’s not far from here. Simply a few steps from the corner store and a block or so from Times Square, and you’ll be there with us. A place to be free. A lush landscape of green hills overlapping each other until they meet …

Leeches

By Jim Bates It was a hot August dawn. We were on the city dock, dangling our feet above the water. The sun was rising orange above the trees. The lake stretched out in front of us, waves rippling with a few ducks floating nearby. I hardly noticed any of it.  Davy had driven us …