Mado Kara Mieru

By Steve Carr Aika sat beneath the blossoming boughs of a cherry tree catching falling petals in the palms of her outstretched hands. Her lips trembled as she hummed a tune of her own creation. It was as light and lovely as the gentle breeze that kissed her cheeks, an expression of joy, a celebratory …

The Button Girl

By Christopher Henckel Part 1 The Button Girl arrived in Buckhannon, West Virginia, in the spring of 1962. No one knew her real name or where she came from. She simply appeared.  Standing between the town’s five-and-dime and Jerry’s Auto Repair on Main Street, The Button Girl held a jade button to her eye as …

1929

By DC Diamondopolous Douglas Haines was not an impulsive man. He’d given it a lot of thought—his decision final. He stood atop the Savings and Exchange Bank in the financial district of Los Angeles. The wide box toes of his oxfords suspended over the roof’s ledge. Ten stories high, with no awning to catch a …

The Aspidistra and The Mock Turtle Soup

By Mike Paterson-Jones The letter that came in the post was intriguing. The envelope was pale green and was addressed in the most beautiful handwriting. Inside was an invitation to dinner with Robert de Morgan on a date two weeks hence at ‘Rogues Manor’. We had only just bought the farm in the Eastern Mountains …

The Lane is a River

By Ann Christine Tabaka                                                                                                                  We were in our mid-forties when we decided to get married. We had both been married before. At that point in our lives, we thought it would be best if we found that perfect house before exchanging our vows. At our age we knew we did not need to buy …

Ya Dara, Fly Tadorna

By Ruth Ticktin Most days before she went off to school, Dara was home alone with Matu, her grandmother. Matu was busy cooking for her husband and grandchildren, doing laundry, cleaning, mending clothes and sheets. Matu took Dara shopping with her, they walked to the market daily, and she made sure Dara was bathed, fed …

Pratt Street, Baltimore: A Nonfiction Story

By George Keyes There are several famous courses and stores along Pratt Street that seems to carry a common railroad myth to the Western Hemisphere. There is the link to the historical traffic at the Mount Clare Station near of Pratt and Poppleton Streets that was the first  full-fledged railroad depot in the entire country …

The Trial of King Bela

By Mark Kodama   I.   When King Bela of Hungary marched his army to the Sajo River on April 10, 1241, he knew the Mongols were near. He knew the Mongols were not warriors with whom to be trifled. He could be bear being called a coward; but he did not want to be …

“Dr.Varbo”

By Nicholas Beaupre “Who did this?” He points to the board. Someone had erased parts of the lesson plan. The students stare back, their eyes shining in the purple light spilling through the window. His intricate model of the moons is half gone. Sighing, Dr.Varbo paces. No one says anything. He stops at the window. The …

A Repetition of Fates

By  Preston Beatty “It worked!” Kartyr couldn’t help but say it as he looked around the trench he was in. He couldn’t quite determine the date, but he was too excited to care. It took all the self control he had to not run and jump around with excitement. All of the effort he had put …