We knew the rules. Grandpa Keller’s old Bechstein piano was off limits.
On the day of his funeral, Aunt Ruby serenaded us with several of Grandpa’s favourite tunes—on his beloved Bechstein.
We raised some hell. Literally.
Turns out Grandpa Keller still doesn’t take kindly to anyone touching his piano.
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.
I excitedly opened the envelope. At last, my senior citizen train pass was in my hands! I can ride for free anywhere in the city. All those years commuting and paying for that privilege are over. As a retiree, I ride for myself now.
But I have nowhere to go.
Bob is retired and writes when he is not busy with retirement. The past two years of semi-isolation have not been kind. Bob is looking forward to a better and more productive 2022.
I learned that a third of all birds are believed to have died off over the past fifty years—all except for Minnesota’s state bird, the mosquito. Apparently, they’re still very much alive and—sorry to say—prospering. As far as I’m concerned, those miserable bloodsuckers can go die, too.
Phillip Temples resides in Watertown, Massachusetts. He’s had five mystery-thriller novels, a novella, and two short story anthologies published in addition to over 160 short stories online. Phil is a member of New England Science Fiction Association, the Mystery Writers of America and the Bagel Bards. You can learn more about him at temples.com.
He slept with a volume of Jorge Luis Borges’s short stories beneath his pillow, convinced they influenced his dreams. He’d wander through labyrinthine libraries, walls of books guiding him to some unknown destination.
Eventually he’d find his way back to his bed and awake the following morning, exhausted but satisfied.
Ran Walker is the author of 24 books, including the 100-word story collection Keep It 100. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University in Virginia.
The story of the week for January 17 to 21 is…
After My Mother’s Stroke, My Parents Refuse Assisted Living by Jennifer L. Freed
and
Hurt is Homeless by John Lovell
Reaching fifty can be quite traumatic.
Ancient Romans called it “Going to L”.
You must still bring home the bacon
which, for you, is now quite indigestible.
And, while watching pretty women pass by
continues to be very pleasant,
you’ve found, when they get closer,
you have to change lenses.
Gene Newman is a retired old guy (90 yrs) and former New Jersey journalist and columnist. Read more at GeneNewmanImagineThat.com.
After the labyrinth brought us full circle, Chuck proposed we apply cow-tipping to the upright-sleeping minotaur. Bovine, it’d be unable to rise. We could then navigate our way out at leisure.
But the minotaur climbed to its feet.
“That was,” it growled, “the wrong, wrong way to tip a dairy.”
Graham Robert Scott has yet to visit Tipperary. Or Crete.
I wish someone I know would
Die
Maybe my brother, or my father.
Not because I want them gone, or to
Suffer
But because then maybe all the
Pain
I feel would have a home. Right now my
Hurt
Is homeless: it comes from nowhere and has nowhere to go.
John Lovell is from Dallas, TX, and is trying his darndest.
They want capers, cumin, garlic. Fresh basil
in their salad. Blue cheese.
They want their olives with the pits.
The whole chicken—skin and bone
and dark.
They want the carcass
for soup. They’ll risk
a few spills.
They need
to try,
to know what will happen
if
they try.
Jennifer L. Freed writes mostly poems and sometimes writes very short stories. Find her at jfreed.weebly.com.
The prettiest girl in class was Catholic.
Doomed.
Danny said she belonged to the bad guy himself.
Long locks of hot red flowed down her back, tickling the tips of the fingers I stretched over the edge of my desk.
I loved her.
In nightmares, I followed her to Hell.
Amy Marques has penned three children’s books, barely read medical papers, occasional blogs, and numerous letters. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in The Dribble Drabble Review, Flying South, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Potato Soup Journal, Ariel Chart, Sweetycat Press, and Flash Fiction Magazine.