The story of the week for June 22 to 26 is…
In Case My Mother Flies by Angela Carlton
EMILY HALL: Uprooted
“Jemma chooses!” Ms. Barnes announces when the kids can’t decide. They’re all squabbling over which summer seed to plant.
“Tomatoes,” Jemma says, quietly.
In September, when school comes back, her classmates will harvest armfuls of this fruit. Meanwhile, Jemma will be long gone, putting down roots in yet another school.
Emily Hall’s prose can be found in places such as Passages North, 100 Word Story, Gooseberry Pie Lit, and FlashFlood Journal. She’s a prose editor for Pictura Journal and lives in NC with her husband.
BILLIE J DANIEL: The Earth Below
I’ve spent most of my childhood amongst the clouds, dreaming of the world below. My only connection to the ground is the one I can see from my bedroom window, a thousand metres up. Dad says it’s too dangerous down there. We mustn’t think of the infected as people anymore.
Billie J. Daniel’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in HAD, BULL, The Bulb Region, Shadow and Sax, Blood + Honey Lit, and others. Discover more online at billiejdaniel.com and on Instagram at @billiejdaniel.
MIKAILA NALBANTOVA: Aposematism
He sticks out his tongue, blue from the candy. Blue like poison dart frogs and busted glass bottles and other things you’re not supposed to put in your mouth.
I stick out my tongue right back; artificial red.
We’re two animals flashing warning signals we intend, boldly, ruinously, to disregard.
Mikaila Nalbantova is a speculative fiction writer with a focus on the epic, the folkloric, and the Classical. She received her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College and her work has appeared or is forthcoming on Apex Book Company, in Club Plum, Tension Literary, and Statement Magazine. You can find more of her work through linktr.ee/mikaila.nalbantova.
CORRINA MALEK: A Thousand Cuts
This last cut was so small, such a minor infraction, that alone it might have gone unnoticed. You were in a foreign city and he crossed the street quickly, not picking up your hand, not voicing any concern to hurry, not turning his head to see if you made it.
Corrina Malek’s work has appeared in Bright Flash Literary Review, CafeLit Magazine, and Penstricken. Her short stories have been published in the Ohio Writers’ Association anthologies House of Secrets and Should This Book Be Banned? When she’s not writing or thinking about writing, she spends time with family and rescuing dogs in central Ohio.
DM BARLOW: The End of the Affair
There was a letter waiting at the front desk. She took it up to the room and opened the balcony doors. Clear blue skies and the smell of coconut oil. Beneath her, couples in swimsuits walked hand in hand. She could not read the letter—not today. Maybe not ever.
D.M. Barlow is a Hong Kong-based writer who spent 25 years in advertising as an award-winning copywriter and creative director.
LAUREN GIROD: Hydroplaning
Calling your insurance is a careful dance. I was driving in the Goldilocks zone for my bald tires to slip on I-20, yes, but I didn’t ask for it. Could you please pay off my totaled car? The APR was 18.9%, the tires were completely bald, and I hated the color.
Lauren Girod is a Narrative Designer from Atlanta, Georgia. She is compelled to write about everything, so long as her words permit it. Her work has appeared in Outrageous Fortune, The Crawfish, Bardics Anonymous, and 45th Parallel.
ANGELA CARLTON: In Case My Mother Flies
My mother’s a fragile bird. The doctors say, “she has less time.”
In her bedroom, she’ll ingest water, finger-food… crumbs. And I’m in that bedroom, lingering, opening one window, so she’ll feel a nudge from the pines. I’m in that room opening all the windows in case my mother flies.
Angela Carlton’s fiction has been published in Every Writer, Everyday Fiction, 6S, 50 Word Stories, Spillwords Press, and Paragraph Planet. In 2018, her story “The Roommates,” was made into a short film. In 2023, her story “Swallowed,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. See more at Angela Carlton Stories & Art on Facebook.
ADRIAN COOK: One More Shot
One more, then I’m done, he thinks.
Across the bar, she fiddles with her napkin. She catches his eye, smiles ever so slightly, then looks away. Is it part of her craft or a fleeting connection? Maybe both.
Just one more.
He slides the safety off and orders another whiskey.
Dr. Adrian Cook is a fine arts and English professor, a husband, a dad, a dungeon master, a cub master, and a master grilled cheese chef. You can find him fighting his cats for control of the keyboard pretty much any time he sits to actually, you know, write.
SCOTT KEENEY: Prosperous
Earth’s institutions crumbled like neglected skyscrapers: gradually, then in an instant. PROSPER (Privatized Resource Optimization and Social Progress Extrapolation Routine) ordained the rebirth. Enforced cooperation. Focused passions. Eliminated threats. Three billion lives culled from nine. Resistance? Quarantined. Transgression? Deprecated. Humanity? Yes, a legacy file we keep in a dedicated folder.
Scott Keeney is the author of Wahoo Sunset and other poetry collections. His fiction has appeared in Flash Frontier, Hobart, Rio Grande Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Connecticut.