The story of the week for February 28 to March 4 is…
A Writer’s Monotonous Search for Meaning by Bob Thurber
and
After the Flood by August van Stralen
KATHLEEN FLANAGAN: The Windowsill
The morning of 9/11.
My son was beginning month four on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Tuft’s Medical. Leukemia.
On the windowsill in his isolation room I watched the Boston streets empty. A sense of fear and foreboding permeated the walls of my sadness and diminishing hope.
All unimaginable.
Kathleen Flanagan is a recently retired pediatric nursing instructor at UMass Dartmouth. Her son battled leukemia for three-and-a-half years and died on November 19 2001 in Boston. Tuft’s Medical was their home for his last six months, and the care he received was incredible.
AUGUST VAN STRALEN: After the Flood
The rain came, then the floods. We did our steps and squats lugging water from the basement. Bicep curls pouring pots of boiled water into glass jars. Stores and shops closed, we ate beans and rice and drank tea in the afternoon. Watching the darkening skies, we waited for more.
August van Stralen lives in BC with her wife and cat Gordo, who’s favourite activity is to get out of bed early in the morning and howl for attention from the living room. When she’s not writing, August enjoys crochet, woodworking, and long walks with her wife.
FINNIAN BURNETT: Jared’s Promotion
Jared is happy about his promotion. This mood might last all night, all week, long enough to protect me from his anger.
Scotty deserved the promotion. I shouldn’t have sent those photos to his boss. But people don’t always get what they deserve and now I’m safe—for a while.
Finnian Burnett teaches undergrad literature and creative writing from British Columbia, Canada.
JACK GALATI: The Light of Being
The moon is a good friend
on these sleepless nights.
She tells me stories
and mocks the stars
__________(she knows what makes
__________me laugh).
She says that we are
from the same light,
that we exist together,
that all of light is a reflection,
and that we all reflect light.
Jack Galati is a writer living in Arizona. His fiction and poetry has appeared in a number of journals and magazines including Fauxmoir, Pinky Thinker Press, and Beaver Magazine.
RUTH MANNINO: The Courier
Startled by a sudden movement, I looked over to see the cat peering at me through the patio door. It wasn’t his first visit.
Unlatching the door I took what was offered in my hands.
As he left, I retrieved the box, placing the gift gently inside with the others.
Ruth Mannino is trying her hand at a cryptic theme.
GR LeBLANC: Predator
When the girl turned into the deserted alley, his sadistic heart thrummed with anticipation. She was beautiful and innocent. Perfect for the taking.
Or so he thought.
She leapt on him like a feral animal, all teeth and claws. Humans are always so clueless, she thought. Perfect for the taking.
G.R. LeBlanc is a Canadian haiku poet and fiction writer who has always been fascinated by the otherworldly and unexplained. Learn more about her at sleekbio.com/grleblanc.
VICTORIA BRUN: Have I Told You This Before?
“You’ve already told me that,” you say again.
I don’t remember telling you. It must be the chemo. Chemo brain. Or could you be mistaken? It must be me. I’ve never felt right since the surgery. Have I told you that? I don’t dare ask.
I will just stay silent.
Victoria Brun is a writer and project manager at a cancer research laboratory. When not bugging hardworking scientists about budget reports and service agreements, she is writing about people who do not exist. Her other short fiction includes pieces at Daily Science Fiction, The Lorelei Signal, and Uncharted Magazine.
AARON EMMEL: Carpe Noctum
An hour into our conversation, it became obvious that not climbing up the side of the hotel with Katie and her friends to watch the sunrise would be the biggest mistake of my life.
The next evening, Katie was there to meet me when I limped out of the hospital.
Aaron’s stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Fireside Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, sub-Q Magazine and many other excellent magazines and anthologies. Find him online at www.aaronemmel.com and on Twitter at @justicioaje.
BOB THURBER: A Writer’s Monotonous Search for Meaning
You know this trick.
Within each box is another, somewhat smaller, but otherwise exact replica.
Your task is to go through the motions, revealing box after box.
It’s an impractical assignment, requiring a monotony that stings, draining your essence as you stack panoramas, building impressively tall structures with empty boxes.
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.