The story of the week for June 6 to 10 is…
Adrift in Timeless Affection by Bob Thurber
KATHERINE DARLINGTON: A Mountain’s Secret
It was invigorating meeting you, and we shared the exhilaration of hiking in the wilderness, where earth meets sky. But before the end of our first night on the mountain, I glimpsed into your backpack. My heart froze as you broke into a smile.
I guess there is no Paradise.
Katherine Darlington has articles in many publications including poetry anthologies, and literary journals. She also has several published novels. See more of her work at www.katherinedarlington.com.
GILLIAN MORAN: The Tale of the Red Shirt
They go through us like tissue paper. They throw us at their enemies, problems, and mishaps. We are tools, not people. We exist to serve and to play a part in their stories. We are narrative.
They say the red uniform distinguishes us. I say it just hides their sins.
Gillian Moran wrote this story.
CHRISTINA NORDLANDER: Down a Dead-End Street
Teddi plunged into the autumn sea. She breached, spluttering. I couldn’t chicken out.
We dressed: wet goosebumps, grey lips. She turned away, unlike when we were teens.
We reached the road. If she’d been single, I could have asked.
When I drove to drop her off, the road had flooded.
Christina Nordlander was born in 1982 and lives outside Birmingham with her husband and two cats. Her writings primarily fall within the speculative fiction spectrum.
ROBERTA BEACH JACOBSON: End of the Line
Clickity-clack, clickity-clack, clickity-clack, eight hours a day (with a break for lunch). Room 318 is for female employees only, home to the typing pool, where idle chit-chat is frowned upon. Margin bells add a change of percussion to the symphony of female workers at the bottom of the corporate ladder.
Roberta Beach Jacobson is drawn to the magic of words – poetry, puzzles, song lyrics, flash fiction, stand-up comedy.
ROSANNE EHRLICH: Escape
On the plane going home from a B&B in Amsterdam, my soon-to-be discarded partner continues his unending diatribe. I lean over and move my body closer to him to hide the fact of my distaste, boredom, and dislike of him. Fake it until I escape it, I say to myself.
Rosanne Ehrlich’s work has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Persimmon Tree, Panoplazine, The Voices Project, and Quillkeeper’s Press’ Rearing in the Rearview.
JIM COURTER: Clueless
“I have reason to believe my wife has a sleep disorder but is keeping it from me so I won’t worry.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The other day I happened to overhear her on the phone, lamenting to a friend that every morning she wakes up with a jerk.”
Jim Courter’s short stories have appeared in the United States, Canada, and England. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee and has won an Illinois Arts Council award for short fiction. His essays have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Smithsonian, and on the op-ed pages of the Chicago Tribune and The Wall Street Journal. His mystery novel, Rhymes with Fool, was published in 2018 by Peasantry Press. First Things First: Ephemera and Offscourings of a Distracted Writer, a collection of essays, humor, and short stories, was published in 2019.
DEL LOBO: Sweet Nectar
This hummingbird is different
He’s parched like the others
But his circus act is something else
Plastic red petals his trapeze
Swinging this way and that
Captivating his audience
Long beak dipping, sipping
Diminishing sweet nectar
Then a threat appears
Yellow-faced bumble bees
Unexpected competition
He quickly learns to share
Del Lobo writes poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction and currently lives on the Sunshine Coast in B.C. She earned a B.A. in International Development at the University of Guelph and is now studying Creative Writing there. Her short stories have appeared in Canadian Stories, Potato Soup Journal and other publications.
NICK YOUNG: Missive
He watched as it bobbed in the indigo wash of the sea, moonlight glinting–green glass, white paper, black ink. It rose on the crest of a wave and was swept back to his feet.
He knew that she would never see his plea. He knew she would never return.
Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. Several of his pieces have appeared in 50-Word Stories. His writing has also appeared in the Nonconformist Magazine, the San Antonio Review, Backchannels Journal, Samjoko Magazine, Short Story Town, Danse Macabre Magazine, Pigeon Review, CafeLit Magazine, the Green Silk Journal, Typeslash Review, The Potato Soup Journal, Sein und Werden, Of Rust and Glass, Little Death Lit, Flyover Magazine, Sandpiper, Fiery Scribe Review, The Chamber Magazine and Vols. I and II of the Writer Shed Stories anthologies.
NELLY SHULMAN: The First Day
He thought about the spring when the light clouds would fly to the gulf, when he would plant primrose and hyacinths on the ancient balcony. Propping himself on an elbow, he looked out of the window, where the fine snow clouded the horizon of the first day of the war.
Nelly Shulman lives and writes in Berlin.