Although his disheveled appearance causes many to avert their gaze, the slightest inkling of a past life emanates, weakly, for those that dare to look.
Sitting on the concrete ground, with back against the wall and hat in hand, his cardboard sign simply reads: WE FALL, KINGS AND COMMON ALIKE.
Eldar is in awe of how incredibly thin the line really is.
The story of the week for June 6 to 10 is…
Could You Please Direct Me to the Self-Help Section? by Ozzie Nogg
It’s relatively easy to tell a joke in 50 words. It’s much more impressive to add this many layers and subtleties to the humour. I was won over even harder when I recognized the punchline built into the story’s title.
It started out casual.
A few laughs, warm smiles, soon mornings with you at my side.
A perfect longing; later your embrace became my reckless abandon.
An obsession. But for you, total isolation.
Our parting.
Goodbye, my love. Your intoxicating fragrance overwhelms me as I pour you down the drain.
Patrick’s relationship with drinking is now as empty as that last bottle.
Our jilted heroine, her energy field depleted, her chakra channels out of whack, still believed in the bread of intimacy and the dance of oneness.
And so, clinging to detachment, our heroine took the path to Barnes & Noble and, letting go of thirteen bucks, bought If the Buddha Dated.
She loved a dog who skillfully bit her fingers, gnawed her ankles, nibbled her piecemeal.
When he got to her heart, he chewed its edges, punctured its chambers. She protested; he spat it out and left.
She was too angry to pick it up, too ashamed to get another dog.
Rayne Debski’s short stories have appeared on line and in print. She is the editor of two anthologies from Main Street Rag Press. She has two dogs who love her.
Mother died ages ago. Her heart killed her.
She’d always say to me, “Better you cry now than I cry later.” Sometimes she’d hit with her hand, other times with a hairbrush.
I remember her saying, “Life is what you make it.” Now it’s a boat! Or a flower pot.
Howie Good is the recipient of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry for his latest collection, Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements.
Poised between fog city and oblivion, he spat and stepped off the railing. Regret hit hard, and too late.
The unforgiving bay knocked him cold, a goner, except for the nearby trawler crew who fished him onboard—gasping, now knowing what to live for every day: friendly smiles, and breakfast.
Kathy Myers finds these 50-word stories a challenge, but fun, much like her 24 years working on a San Francisco locked psych unit.
On the worst day possible, sorrow came.
In great gulps of anguish, it descended upon her. One wave crashed into another with nary a pause. Her sobs were heard throughout the house—and rightfully so.
How deep the wound, how massive the pain, to be catastrophically, inexplicably out of chocolate!
It is well known across the land that Hillary does not like to be without her chocolate. She has been published in 50-Word Stories before, and most recently won a contest with Six-Word that earned her a place in the book “Crush” by Cathy Alter and Dave Singleton (released in April 2016). #1stcelebcrush
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for May were:
Cryptic Quest by John H. Dromey
Alone by Verity Park
Encroachment by Daniel Slaten
Alien Nature by Patrick Yu
The winner of the May 2016 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
Alien Nature
Patrick put together something very poetic, unique, and fascinatingly speculative. It gets my mind wandering in a lot of different directions, that’s for sure!
Empty for eighty years, the mansion loomed over the village, and cautionary tales spread as wildfire.
She ventured in regardless, her explorer’s spirit unquenchable. To her parents’ chagrin, she returned late, yet regretted nothing.
In the mansion’s window a figure appeared, high above the village.
It watched, and it waited.
Tony is working on a research thesis. In his spare time, he enjoys playing music and writing short stories. Some of his writing can be seen at liretranger.wordpress.com.