LYNN MESSING: The Grocery Store Outing — Two Perspectives

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Mother’s thoughts: Why must you melt down every time we come to the grocery store? I hate autism.

Son’s thoughts on experiencing sensory overload: Lights on, off, on, off, on off. Noise. People move. Many people. Stuff. Bright colors. Too much! Eyes hurt. Ears hurt. Head hurts. No. NO. NO!!!

Lynn Messing is the mother of a young man with autism. At some point in his youth she came to realize the reason he hated grocery store outings was that he felt his senses were being assaulted by the flickering fluorescent lights, the bright colours, movements, noises and scents. She then tried to make all grocery store runs when the stores were relatively empty and to make them as quick as possible. She submitted this story this month in honor of World Autism Awareness/Acceptance Day which takes place on April 2nd.

ELLEN TOWNSEND: Taste of Regret

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Amy scrubs the farm potatoes; water browns. Grips the vegetable brush, knuckles white; scrapes off marks, blemishes, turning them pure, clean.

The potatoes smell of lingering looks, hidden kisses, regret. She rinses away that night, but a layer of residue remains as her husband’s tires crunch gravel on the driveway.

Ellen Townsend is an art teacher and writer. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine, Fairfield Scribes, 50-Word Stories and others.

TOM WILD: The Soundless Pull

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The mountains’ song had always been a soft buzz in the background.
“Come here” was a melody without sound.

Eventually I slipped as the gang of peaks encircled me.
“Give me your soul,” they boomed.
I fought, briefly. Futile.

Dropping my pack, I stepped off the trail,
and joined them.

Tom lives with his young family in New Zealand and works as a primary school teacher. He has had a passion for stories ever since learning to walk and is currently working on a series of fantasy novels.

ANGELA CARLTON: Wearing Clouds

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

You pushed me high on swings at five, mother, so I could FLY.

Sometimes, I’d jump on merry-go-rounds, spinning-spinning, giggling, catching breath, before I was in your grasp.

After cancer took you, I found my way back, swinging, spinning, at nineteen, you, a faint whisper in the breeze, wearing clouds.

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.

SI CHEN: A Swing Has Two Ropes

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

My daughter loves swinging. She can ride it for hours. I wondered what she found so captivating about it. One night, after putting her to bed, I sat on the swing behind our house. Nothing happened. The difference, I realized, is she has a pair of hands behind her, pushing.

Si Chen is an oceanographer by training and a fiction writer by instinct. He is working on a collection of short stories.

GARY THOMSON: At His Funeral

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Sarah G. follows her lover’s funeral procession at a respectful distance, toward the waiting grave. Snugs her frayed coat collar along her throat.

His fancy woman, they called her. His bit on the side.

She studies his wife’s impassive face, dry empty eyes.

Her grieving heart throbs against her ribs.

Gary Thomson prefers celebration of life gatherings, their conviviality, storytelling, bonhomie, over formalized funeral ceremonies.

RICH H KENNEY JR: College Pond Symphony

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

During his breezy walk to school this morning, the professor passed a pond full of bullfrogs bellowing on lily pads.

By the marsh at dusk on his way home, an orchestra of tree creaks, sedge, and cattails kept time with the wind, the day’s tireless maestro.

He, the audience, applauded.

A professor of social work at the University of Texas at Tyler, Rich H. Kenney, Jr. is season ticket holder for nature’s orchestral works.

MARIA TASS: Hairspray Hymn

Artistic, Odd, Submissions, ,

Her hair rose like a careful helmet, brown waves shellacked into prayerful stillness. She rode the bus smiling politely, beady eyes skimming passengers while pretending to gaze out the windows. At my stop, a gust blew through the door. Her hair did not move. Instead, somewhere inside it, something whistled.

Maria Tass has a degree in Psychology and her work has appeared in Gray & Granite Magazine. Based in Toronto, she revels in the city’s secondhand shops and hidden laneways where the strange and beautiful converge.

LISA CHAMBERS: Warrior

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

As a child Ryan dreamed of slaying dragons, none too formidable for his steadfast sword.

He is still in that business. At the Veterans crisis center, armed with assuring compassion, he confronts head-on the despair that haunts some of our heroes.

Even the smallest breakthrough is worth the battle waged.

Lisa Chambers is a Texas girl, writer and daughter of a Veteran, grateful for heroes helping heroes.