Tag Archives: helplessness

MICHAEL GIGANDET: Birthday Girl

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

She would’ve been born in June if I’d done more. I’m just saying she. That feels right to me, her father. This stop light, a street corner, anywhere really, I hold her to me, mentally. For her birthday I send checks to shelters like that’s something. Like gifts.

Michael Gigandet is a retired lawyer in Tennessee. His stories have appeared in Bending Genres, Quarencia Press, Great Weather for Media, Palm Sized Press, Pure Slush and The Hong Kong Literary Journal. His published stories are available at michaelgigandet.com. He administers a music page on Twitter/X at @motobec810.

BILL COX: Tears

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

Her tears wake me up.

There’s not much I can do about cerebral palsy, spinal scoliosis, epilepsy. Those are for hospitals and doctors.

The tears, though. Those are a father’s domain. Making silly sounds, singing favourite songs, I distract her from the discomfort.

Tears fade; a smile begins.

Hope endures.

Bill lives in Aberdeen, Scotland, with his family and a nagging sense that he has forgotten somethin, but can’t quite remember what.

KIAH MOTT: Bad Like That

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

You told me the story of the blind man out in the rain: grabbing the bus stop sign and leaning into the wind. You were in the back of the car and wanted to get out and offer him an umbrella you didn’t have.

Some days are bad like that.

Kiah Mott has been published previously in Flash Fiction Magazine Online. She was also a finalist for the 2018 Moon City Fiction Competition.