A mother had a jocular way of suggesting her offspring get some fresh air and exercise. She’d tell them, “Go outside and let the wind blow the stink off ya.”
That stratagem seemed to work quite well. Then, one afternoon, there was an unwelcome visitor to the neighborhood: a skunk.
John H. Dromey has contributed to a wide variety of online and print publications.
Chicken thief. You gut our white hen, eat choice pieces, leave her belly up for the owls and maggots. Emboldened, you sneak back a second night, climb the fence, find the coop locked. So you steal cat food, scavenge compost, sleep in the barn. Oblivious to the box trap, waiting.
Shirlee Jellum is a retired English teacher who publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry, most recently in Persimmon Tree, Quarter(ly) Journal, WordPeace and several anthologies.
Talk of witchcraft made the townspeople go quiet. It’s only a matter of time before the hunt begins. Teachers will carry pitchforks instead of pencils, and children will carry torches instead of toys.
Alice hides her purple, spell-stained hands behind her back.
In this lifetime, who will her betrayer be?
Gracie Lirette is a young writer seeking to gain as much experience as she can before the daunting world of adulthood takes over. Earlier this year she earned two regional Gold Keys for a short story and flash fiction in the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and now she is diving into microfiction.
I’ll stuff each cloned version of my dog when it dies until the path I walk through my garden becomes littered with the same white terrier. I’ll stare up through the glass dome at the red sky. At my end, the hazmat suits will light my whole world on fire.
Harmony Mooney is a teacher and writer living on the North Coast of California with her husband, two cats, and two dogs.
Thursday, my sponsor says, surrender works.
Friday’s dealer says it too.
Saturdays, my therapist says addiction is a disease.
Sunday, the priest says it’s a sin.
Monday’s doctor says it’s genetic.
Tuesday, Mom says I’m killing her.
Wednesday’s mirror tells the truth:
I’ll believe whoever makes this feeling go away.
Paul D’Arcy tells stories. All real. Most brief. You can read more at pauldrc.com.
We’re in woodland with backpacks, introductions.
Glowing couples hold hands; our foraging instructor munches leaves. I nibble. He discusses elderflowers whilst sitting amidst daisies; we picnic on sourdough and dandelions.
“Wild mushroom pasta,” he says. “Folklore believes these fungi help people read minds.”
The couples devour bowlfuls, then leave separately.
Ellen Townsend is an art teacher and writer. Her work has appeared in Friday Flash Fiction and Paragraph Planet and has been broadcast on BBC Radio.
Before summer got too hot we fooled around on playgrounds. We swung blistered palms on monkey bars, got dizzy on tire swings.
Before winter got less cold we played in the snow. We ate icicles off our parents’ cars, sipped cocoa with tiny marshmallows.
The world was still hospitable; home.
Audrey Lee is a student from New Jersey. She enjoys writing flash fiction and poetry.
Sunset. We let it. I regret that. Orange orb, opulent lozenge dissolving upon the horizon’s tongue. Arriving night starlit, tarpit ignited by fiery eyes, infinite suns where one once was, numbed by the number.
I’ll hold the morning back, quash the dawn like we’re swallowing sick then keeping it down.
Steven Holding lives in the United Kingdom. His story TURNING A TRICK appears in the collection BLOODLUST from Black Hare Press. You can follow his work at stevenholding.co.uk.
The story of the week for August 25 to 29 is…
The Power of Touch by Lilian Pomeroy Edmonds
and
Birralyn means the sparks of the banksia over there by Fiona H. Evans
White SUVs, gray minivans, silver sedans. Self-driving, late 2040s makes. Kasparov tapped his ID card to the window, but the door didn’t unlock. A notification flashed across his field of vision. “Credit score too low; access denied.” Kasparov sighed, put on his gloves, and picked up a concrete block off the street.
Matthew Klinestiver is an American English teacher residing in Bangkok, Thailand. In his spare time, he enjoys studying Mandarin, composing catchy pop songs on the piano, and watching old Godard films.