The story of the week for March 25 to 29 is…
The Door by James Geneser
All posts by Tim
JAMES GENESER: The Door
“See who’s at the door, Emily.”
I notice his muddied broken boots. Then his face all lined. His widow’s peak, sharp like mine. The smile, curling like newsprint thrown in the fire.
He says, “Found you.”
A chrysanthemum blossoms on his chest. I take the gun from mom’s shaking hand.
James Geneser is a writer and an artist who doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but knows he loves telling stories.
JENNA GOMES: Goodbye
There is a sheet of rain between them and their hearts pound, hair suctioned to their cheeks, water droplets running off their fingertips.
Kiss her, he thinks.
Kiss him, she thinks.
“Goodbye,” he says.
“Goodbye,” she says.
And they turn away, the sheet of rain pouring down heavier than ever.
Jenna Gomes teaches English composition at the University of Dayton and sometimes writes a 50-word story in the middle of class if the inspiration hits. The secret is out.
HEIDI LOBECKER: Tingle
“Can’t you just look at what the mannequins have on and wear that?” asked Joe with disdain.
Shelly’s cold sore was back, a tingle on her lip. Her body’s warning system, telling her this guy was bad news.
He moved in for a kiss. Mouth to mouth, she pressed hard.
Heidi Lobecker writes about how the body holds feelings and emotion and how movement can transform pain. She puts her pants on and hopes they fit, just like everybody else.
JOHN B SINCLAIR: The Storyteller
Grandfather’s fantasy-filled tales of visits to world capitals were sparked by a vivid imagination. “See the world,” he would urge, pointing to maps pinned precariously to the wall.
We sensed he had never ventured abroad, but his gestures and improvised foreign dialects kept us enthralled.
Listening to every single word.
John B. Sinclair is a much-travelled Scot who has now returned to Scotland, where he enjoys freelance writing on a variety of subjects.
TONIA MARKOU: Rumors
The walls inside the grimy bathroom stall are plastered with rumors: pregnant, gay, abortion, slut.
As if words didn’t mean anything. As if they didn’t have power over a person’s life.
My grip around the Sharpie tightens. In an empty corner, I add some truth: You will be missed, Kerry.
Tonia Markou is a writer and university teacher based in Germany. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing. When she isn’t writing flash fiction or short stories or editing her first novel, she collects Converse shoes, stationery, mugs, and pajamas – not necessarily in that order. Her fiction has appeared in Flash, Lit Up, The Junction, and P.S. I Love You.
CHARLOTTE McELROY: Harvest Time
Winds whisper the sounds and sights of fall; fading flowers and falling leaves.
Dancing shadows slip away at dusk to appear again in the chilly dawn.
Golden wheat fields fall to the force of gobbling combines.
The Meadow Lark’s song signals change.
The harvest moon fills the night with mystery.
Charlotte McElroy is an 80-year-old retired teacher. She is finally following her dream: writing!
DANIEL GALEF: New Guard
The new guard was familiar with most of the devices the curator showed him. He was experienced. He had worked, with the utmost discretion, at some of the highest security vaults and museums on the continent.
The only difference? Here they were all on the other side of the glass.
Daniel Galef collects those little metal clips they give you at the door.
GB BURGESS: Natural High
During the night, Alise often left the ground floor bedroom she shared with Matt, sleeping instead in the spare room upstairs.
She liked waking early and standing by the window. The view offered promises, lifting her hopes as high as her location.
Then Matt would wake and bring her down.
GB Burgess loves her two-storey house.
BOB THURBER: A Poet Laureate’s Death (3/15/19)
William Stanley Merwin passed away earlier today
and tonight there is something seriously wrong with the sky.
The moon is misaligned, hung crookedly low, a cockeyed smile
and all around there’s something the matter with the stars,
those that shine, those that hide, and those that blink like signal flares.
Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.