Blue Ulysses

By Tim Law Molly watched on from the front porch of her family’s beach house as her older brother Marcus chased a beautiful blue Ulysses butterfly. With each fruitless leap and swipe that Marcus made with his bug catching net, Molly’s smile grew all the broader. “You’ll never catch it!” Molly laughed. “That butterfly is …

Road Closed Ahead

By Divya Manikandan “I’ve never seen them shut like this,” Meena said, bending her head away from the scorching Indian sun. Her forehead burrowed into a frown as she twisted her sandals into the gravel. A small pebble entered her chappal and she pressed down on it. “I didn’t even know they could close,” Sid …

My Little Star Girl

By Lana M. Rochel Originally was written in 2018 and published in Multiply IQ in September 2018. Rochel updated the essay in 2021. More information about the essay will be posted after the essay. I'm looking at a white blank laptop page in front of me. “Hey, mum! Tell the story of your girl!" I …

Patchouli

By Julia Wilson My 21-year-old son and I are wearing, by happenstance, matching pairs of Birkenstocks. Yes, we live in a city which is the epitome of the liberal East Coast. I spend my days chatting with people who I wholly agree with on the subject of Democrats vs. Republicans, Trump, abortion, vaccines, social services, …

Mashed Potato

By Henry Tydeman The other children had already finished their tea and left the table. Michael sat with his short legs hanging over the edge of the chair, eating quietly, whilst his mother was leaning against the wall and speaking to her friend. Michael was concentrating on his mashed potato, and only heard snippets of …

Dear Jacqueline

By Amy Reece Dear Jacqueline, May I call you Jacqueline? Or would you prefer, Ms. Woodson? Either way, I find myself enchanted by your verse flowing into novels about a life I never lived Although our years align. I hear my father saying, You stay away from them. I hear my mother saying, We don’t …

The Ambulance Chasers

By Kevin Hibshman Story 3: Lighting Strikes! Summer was prime time for my sister, our friend Brenda and I. We were the ambulance chasers, running after the sirens and flashing lights. When the town fire siren began booming, we'd run to the end of our street where we could watch the emergency equipment roll out. …

Heaven’s Window

By George Keyes A MORNING’S HAND Afaaf opened her eyes. It was morning, or was it really the middle of the evening? As she wondered, she turned on the wooden bed, not yet fully awake, a hundred of birds playing in the backward, and those earthly sounds from the ravine reached her as if they …

Superman Loses His Powers

By Dan French He was larger than life. Rippling biceps, which he flexed in front of us. He seemed able to lift anything, solve any task, fix any machine, take care of everything that came his way. He had it all, or seemed to. He delighted in pouring red blood from the dinner platter of …

Magic

By Cheryl L. Caesar   When I was seven my dolls still talked and moved, even the unfortunate one I’d molded out of clay, who looked like Alice the Goon. Having no armature, she couldn’t stand. She sat splay-legged, as though in an eternal game of jacks. When I was seven, the April issue of Jack …