The story of the week for April 2 to 6 is…
Persephone Unearthed by Anne Lindley Killheffer
ANNE LINDLEY KILLHEFFER: Persephone Unearthed
I was a green girl, kidnapped, forced to marry Hades underground—that’s how my mother tells the story. But consider this. I have appetites. I broke the pomegranate open, I shared a juicy feast with my man. If you were born to unrelenting summer, you’d crave a velvet shadow too.
Anne Lindley Killheffer wrote this story.
MARY PENNER: Three Generations
Child of mine you are so fine
Now a Mother of two
I still look at you
As that little girl
Who changed my world
I thank you
Mother of mine
You are so fine
You at one hundred
I at seventy
Still share plenty
So true
I thank you
Mary has written poetry since age ten and continues to do so. She is also writing short stories and enjoys being a member of a writing group.
JEFFREY H TONEY: Butterfly Dreams
Ice crystals reflect this afternoon’s sun onto my cozy chrysalis, casting shadows onto lavender crocus buds below. Bright marigold, crimson and azure shock my dark dull dreams. A gentle breeze caresses my wrinkled wet wings. Delirious and dizzy, my tongue uncoils reaching for sweet nectar, knowing that spring has sprung.
Dr. Jeffrey H. Toney has published scientific peer-reviewed articles, news media opinion pieces, and short fiction stories. Recently he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his 100-word story “The Quiet Raspberry Wormhole,” published in Crack The Spine. He serves as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kean University.
ZOE: I Don’t Understand People
I’m sitting on the floor, looking up at a woman. She’s walking round the house picking things up then putting them back down somewhere else. She looks at me with a huge smile then goes all squeaky and high-pitched, starts telling me how cute I am.
This happens every day.
Zoe, age 16, wrote this story.
BILL COX: The Last Human
“Humanity’s greatest adventure: a footprint on Mars. We had enough to survive, but not, it turns out, to live. The rot was in our souls, sick for home, for green. Darkness took them one by one. Only I remain, marooned, looking to the stars for a final glimpse of home.”
Bill is from Aberdeen, Scotland. He is the end product of a centuries long breeding programme designed to produce the perfect human being. It didn’t work.
DOUG HOEKSTRA: New Orleans Night
The first time and last time: New Orleans, moving through the August heat, sweating off the day. She dripped into a dark street where a voice beckoned, smiled, and pushed her off the wagon into high night flight descent.
Sleeping in the car, wrapped in his leather jacket, she shivered.
Doug Hoekstra is a working wordsmith. His short stories, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous literary journals through the U.S. Hoekstra has two book-length collections to his name: The Tenth Inning (2015) and Bothering the Coffee Drinkers (2007 – winner of an Independent Publisher Award Bronze Medal for Fiction). He lives in the Music City with his son Jude. Hoekstra is also a singer-songwriter troubadour who has released eight “critically acclaimed” albums of original material on labels on both sides of the pond, touring throughout the U.S. and Europe performing at bookstores, coffeehouses, clubs, libraries, pubs, festivals, radio stations, and castles, solo and with combos in tow. Highlights include Nashville Music Award and Independent Music Award nominations, lots of Top 10 lists, and many groovy times. As the pundits used to say, “a lot of people write songs, Hoekstra writes five-minute worlds” (Wired Magazine). See more at doughoekstra.wordpress.com.
TILIA KLEBENOV JACOBS: If
If he hadn’t hit the ball.
If she hadn’t caught it and tossed back the most luminous smile in the annals of baseball.
If he hadn’t scribbled his number on it.
If she hadn’t called, laughing and calling him “ballsy.”
But he had and she had. Together for eternal If.
Tilia Klebenov Jacobs is the author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time and Second Helpings at the Serve You Right Café as well as numerous short stories. She is a reviewer for IndieReader.com, a judge in San Francisco’s Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, and a board member of Mystery Writers of America. Additionally, Tilia teaches writing classes for prison inmates. See more at tiliaklebenovjacobs.com.
DAVID RAE: The Hunters
Snaking roots snare your ankles pulling you under the mud. You grab hold of an overhanging branch and scream. More roots wrap over you and drag you deeper, down towards the underworld. You look to me, begging for help.
My hands fumble as I notch an arrow to my bow.
David Rae wrote this story. See more at davidrae-stories.com.
PONTIUS PAIVA: Alky
I stumble in, drunk, parking myself at a table in the corner. “Scotch,” I yell to the blonde. “Neat,” I add.
She refuses to take my order, insisting that I keep my voice down. I raise a stink, demanding service.
Long story short, I’m no longer welcome at the library.
Pontius Paiva pours himself into his craft, hoping to raise the bar with each piece. Visit pontiuspaiva.com to see the complete library of merry microfictions and sobering short stories.