MICHELLE DINNICK: One More

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Just one more cookie, she thinks. Just one more. Life is short. May as well enjoy it. Where’s the harm? She has no way of knowing that when she’s 40 years old, her seven-year-old son will say she weighs a thousand pounds when she leans over to kiss him goodnight.

Michelle is a contributing author in the most recent Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Canada, and a quarterfinalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Short Screenplay contest. Her writing has won several awards and appeared in The Globe and Mail (one of Canada’s National newspapers) and a number of local magazines and newspapers in Alliston, including The Briar Crier, Total Sports, Voice of the Farmer, Arts Talk and Focus 50 Plus. Her short story “Lightning Strikers” was made into a series in the Focus 50 +Newspaper because fans asked for more! You can find her online at commuterlit.com, FiftyWordStories.com, FeminineCollective.com, michelledinnick.com and @MichelleDinnick.

BOB THURBER: The Night I Fell Off The Curb On A Street Corner At The End Of The World And Landed In A Painting

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

The diner was a clean, well lighted place, open around-the-clock.

I was working the counter the night Edward Hopper stopped in.

He asked me why I wasn’t wearing a paper hat.

I shrugged and said, “The cook wears a hairnet.”

“Well, I’m giving you a hat,” he said, sketching feverishly.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction,” his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, despite severe vision loss, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

KATYA DUFT: The Modern Tragedy

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

She didn’t greet him at home, and when he touched her shoulder, she stared at him with eyes full of tears.

“Sorry I’m so late. The traffic sucked, and my phone died. Is that why…?” he nervously asked.

“Five people unfriended me on Facebook this week!” Then she broke down.

Katya Duft is a translator, interpreter, and language teacher, and enjoys writing short stories, poetry, and her blog Tales from the Bus.

MARK KONIK: A Happy Rejection

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Russell walked into his English class and took a seat towards the middle. He wondered what everyone in class thought about his story. It received two likes on Facebook. Hillary walked passed him, stopped and said that his story stunk.

It made Russell smile. They hated Salinger at first, too.

Mark Konik is a writer from Newcastle, Australia. He writes short stories and plays.

VIV BURGESS: Karmic Fallout

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

“How you get here?”

“Businessman—sold weapons and made a pile. Some collateral damage, but that’s life. Wife drowned me. You?”

“Dictator. Started war, made much money, killed millions until execution. This Hell not so bad.”

Their black carapaces reflect distant mushroom clouds as Earth’s latest inheritors scuttle for shelter.

Viv Burgess thinks her muse needs a pep talk and possibly a good holiday.

TAMSIN SEYMOUR: The Wren

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

He flits between branches, his jaunty, upturned tail bobbing. I’ve seen him before, but never this close, and never singing fit to burst his tiny heart.

His head twitches left and right. Perhaps he’s just scared, but I need to believe it’s because he’s caught a sideways glimpse of spring.

Tamsin can’t sing or flit, but she’s definitely on the lookout for the end of winter.

SHARON CALKIN: The Garden Path

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , ,

She dabs vanilla on her wrists, thick, dark and pungent, like her memory of the night before he went to war. His child plays in the garden where they will stroll. He’ll see his son, for the first and only time, his firstborn, bearing another man’s name.

Casualty of war.

Sharon Calkin is a family history writer and poet. She lives in Pasadena, CA.

JUSTIN BENDELL: Consequence

Adventure, Submissions, , , , ,

We drank whiskey like sorrow were rare.
Dead’s dead, I muttered, bottle gone dry.
Hog stepped into the firelight, Colt drawn.
Wasn’t us, Billy blurted.
Hog shot him.
Wasn’t us my foot, I said, and drew.
I hadn’t a chance.
I knew it.
Hog knew it.
God hadn’t a clue.

Originally from the Midwest U.S., Justin Bendell lives and teaches in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he edits the Manzano Mountain Review, co-hosts Point Blank—a podcast about noir, hardboiled, and detective fiction—and records music under various monikers including fuguers cove and Euthanized Horse. His stories and poems have appeared in Meridian, 3:AM Magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Thuglit, Washington Square Review, and more. He loves the desert. See more at justinbendell.com.

IAIN YOUNG: Saturday Morning, Before the Coffee was Ready

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Allison didn’t recognize her at first. “…Mom?”

Her mother, impossibly young, stood at the door, a toddler on her shoulder.

“Oh, good,” said her mother. “You’ve turned out okay.” She handed Allison the toddler. “This is you, just barely two. I learned to time travel. I’ll pick her up tomorrow.”

Iain Young used to enjoy time travel, until that one unexpected layover in 1985. Losing his passport didn’t help.