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 …

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 …

LifeMart

By Susan Cleveland "Welcome to LifeMart. How can I help you?" Maggie inquired. Her first customer was a young man in his late teens. His blonde hair, clear complexion, and strong build emanated the look of good health. He approached her with a sheepish grin and eyes full of hope. "This will probably sound strange, …

Write Me A Letter

By Rachel Zweig Zev Wolf grabbed onto stacked boxes to steady himself from falling in the grocery store. The old man pointed at a tall woman with three young children in the dairy aisle. “Lady!” he rasped. The woman turned to see if he had spoken to her or the other customers who quickly walked …

End of the World Sale

By Mitchell Waldman That's what the sign says: END OF THE WORLD SALE. Right on the front door of this little variety shop called "Nick's and Knacks," squeezed between a laundromat and a pharmacy on the strip at the edge of the continent, in Cocoa Beach. Jack and Dana walk in, thinking it’s a joke. …

Dante’s Circles

By Marc Carver It scares me how much life goes around and around in a circle. You live it once then years later the exact same thing happens again. And you react to it in exactly the same way. It is almost as if you are powerless against yourself. Who you are never goes away. …

Losing Friends

By Victor Schwartzman Earnest stood on the edge of a cliff. He hated losing friends. People came and went. He hated losing connections. He hated losing people. Casual friends dropped out as casually as they dropped in. Some were charming and he missed them. Those losses caused some pain. People he’d known for years was …

Death is Symphony of Life

By Dr. Imbesat Syed I saw beauty in death, I saw liberation in death. I felt breath in death, I saw vision in death. I heard symphonies in death, I touched life in death, For death completes life and births life. Death is the ultimate reward, Death is the ultimate destiny. Death gives life, meaning, …