The terrified child cowers down the hall of the nursing home unaware her grandma once felt the same. Her mother forced this visit. Everyone smiles at her as if she exists only to spread happiness. Hope in a puny package. Grandma won’t remember her, and that is for the best.
Julie Reed is a retired nursing home administrator living in Indiana. She is a member of the Indiana Writer’s Center Fiction Group.
They found the notebook buried within the bookshelf between two hardbacks. In it, the ideas that their mother could never arrange into an intelligible book. Words stacked upon words, the cursive neat, but heavy.
It could have been a book, they thought.
It should have been a book, they thought.
Ran Walker is a microfictionist and author of over 30 books. The creator of the 100 x 100 micro novel, he teaches creative writing at Hampton University and lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.
The first time I met a cheetah I finally understood how the dark rivulets running from her eyes connected us, heart to heart, separating her from other wild cats, speaking uniqueness and lending dignity. So, why, looking in the mirror, seeing those same dark lines, do I feel so sad?
Eileen became slightly acquainted with several cheetah when visiting South Africa and has fond memories of their beauty and dignity.
The story of the week for February 19 to 23 is…
Early Spring by Kai Wang
In snowfall I always saw two of you outside my window, dancing awkwardly on the icy driveway. You laughed and threw powder into the air, like confetti. New Year’s wishes of warmer mittens, better memories.
This year it was only you I saw, making angels alone as winter melted away.
Kai is an American college student currently on exchange in Chimay, a town in the French part of Belgium. He was inspired to submit a story after learning about the website in his English teacher Mr. Monin’s class.
She smashes things, my daughter. Her toy easel, recently. My electric mixer. The frame for our apartment’s only photo of her father.
She can’t help it.
However angry, I hug her each night, kiss her little forehead, and tell her to sleep. I pray that there, she might find peace.
Timbray loves birds and carousels. He is the author of Spare Mattress and The Rens series, and work found in ARCH and Every Day Fiction.
Sam’s suspicion shocked Sonia. She said she simply scrubbed Selbert’s striped, stained, soiled, soon-shameful salmon shirt. Suddenly, Sam surprised Sonia, shoving Selbert sideways, scattering silver spoons, salad, soursop, sandwiches, serviettes. Selbert shoved Sam. Sam struck, swept, subdued Selbert. Sonia screamed. Surprisingly, Sam shook Selbert senseless. Selbert surrendered. Sonia simply smiled.
Kirk Budhooram has an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) with High Commendation. His new book The Underwater Tunnel and Other Stories is now on sale. He lives happily with his wife who is also a writer, filmmaker, and artist. Follow them on TikTok.
The widowed captain drank himself into a sorry state. The wind shifted and his life tilted toward the horizon. To right the ship, psychologically speaking, he steered straight for an iceberg, planning to execute a last-minute maneuver known as the bump and run. Rumors of his survival continue to circulate.
Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.
The slow rot of infrastructure always seems sudden upon its revelation. This decay behind skin, tissue, and bone opens space for regret to enter, coupled with the unanswerable – what’s next? – as you wonder whether scaffolding erected for repair is on time or too late, while the foundation continues to tremble.
Thad DeVassie is a writer and artist/painter who creates from the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. You can find his written and painted works at thaddevassie.com.
On Sundays, Mama, an Appalachian queen, wore dresses paired with a gaudy necklace, and thick knee high hosiery secured with ribbons. Weekdays were spent barelegged in gingham, with back bent, hauling coal and chasing her brood of eleven. One frosty May, Mama’s spirit illuminated the Northern star, no dress required.
Becky Parker is a Push Cart Prize nominee. Her works are in Spirit Fire Review, Agape Review, Sweety Cat Press, Yellow Mama, Appalachia Bare, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, the Rye Whiskey Review, Pulse, the Green Shoe Sanctuary, Sequoyah Cherokee River Journal, Amaranth Journal, Spire Light, Avocet, Mackenzie’s Publication, Salvation South, Heart of Flesh, Mildred Haun Review, and North Dakota Quarterly. She is the founder of Briar Haus Writes, a literary page.