She stumbled in, water trickling down her legs. A sharp pain squeezed her and she bellowed a wild cry.
Between the pains, she opened her eyes. A pair of black marbles stared back at her. The donkey matched her pitch and brayed, to which she replied, “The King is coming.”
Maja Scheler is a creative writer and Spanish-speaking enthusiast residing in the Pacific Northwest. Mother to three boys, her days are wild and rewarding.
The story of the week for December 17 to 21 is…
Last Tango by Sudha Balagopal
and
Last of the Old Ones by Taryn Noelle Kloeden
Two for one! It’s a Christmas miracle.
Just look at all of the different soft shades of green!
His van was a garden shed on wheels, full of baskets, gloves, tools, and a Folger’s coffee tin with a roll of toilet paper.
Never had to use it, but it sure was comforting to know it was there.
Rosemary is a retired nurse who enjoys gardening.
“I’m fat,” Chris told his mirror image, clutching his paunch. “Diet in the new year, Mary.”
Another year passed. His resolution lacked resolve.
“Oh Chris,” Mary soothed. “That’s why the children and I love you.” She tugged his beard towards her and kissed him. “Santa is supposed to be cuddly.”
Mark Towers writes children’s books, short stories and poetry.
I looked into her eyes.
I held her hand.
I should have said, “I love you.”
Should have said, “Thank you for the good times.”
But I was angry still,
after all those years.
I looked into her eyes.
I dropped her hand.
I said,”Goodbye,”
and then I died.
Harry Demarest has written 30 50-word stories that have been published, and another dozen or so that were not good enough. Two of his longer stories have been published.
Overweight girls don’t have many dates
My mother told me when I was 15
You might never get married
The diet doctor prescribed appetite-controlling pills
When I was still so hungry
Mother said, “Eat some lettuce”
I knew lettuce wouldn’t fill the emptiness in my stomach,
or in my heart.
Miriam Stein is a social worker, writer, and the author of Make Your Voice Matter With Lawmakers: No Experience Necessary. See more at makeyourvoicematter.com.
Jim lived with Uncle Roy and Aunt Millie. Once he confronted Millie about a rumour he’d heard. “They say Santa isn’t real, and my presents from him are really from Roy.”
“Honestly, Jim,” said Millie. “D’you think I’d let Roy spend that much on you?”
Jim believed for another year.
Thomas A. North lives in rural Ontario, Canada. He has many relatives, and is owned by a grey and white cat.
In dream, images lure: my hands spanning his bony scapula, lips kissing his neck, leg snaking his muscles as I lean back, believing he won’t ever let me go.
Awake, I pray for strength I cannot muster, to rise, to walk, to forgive the texting teen for unraveling our tango.
Sudha Balagopal’s short fiction appears in Jellyfish Review, Drabble, New Flash Fiction Review, New World Writing, and other journals. She is the author of a novel, A New Dawn. See more at sudhabalagopal.com.
Frigid weather was not a factor when we were young. We welcomed the challenge. It was raw, but so were we. The jostle of crowded streets and hiss of the library’s radiators frustrated the arctic air during Christmas season in the big city.
The bundles of memory warm us now.
Eddie Roth writes from St. Louis.
He’d taken this route every year. Nothing like this ever happened before. Guy came out of nowhere.
The reindeer were fatter this year so they blocked his view.
Opening his hip flask, he studied the splatter on the road.
Nobody believed in him anyway. Better go before witnesses turn up.
Joey does not and never did believe in the existence of Santa.