Tag: short story
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Chronic, Traumatic, Eden
At the base of the hills he met Emma, as they had done every day this summer, at 6:30. Their togetherness had become a kind of record; proof that one another had existed this and made the most of the long evenings. “Do you remember finding that tree that was struck by lightning?” Emma might…
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Retainer On A Bedside Table
When you meet him, try not to look too much into his eyes. And try not to look too much like you’re trying to avoid looking into his eyes. When you meet him try to remember what you’re saying, don’t let your train of thought leave without you because his eyes are glowing too blue.…
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Thunder-turtles
“Thunder-turtles!” That’s the watchword, and it means feet hidden in foliage, flag hauled out of sight, napkins full of white chocolate-chip cookies stuffed up our shirts. We can’t still the shaking of every leaf in the tree, though. I bite my lip in a mix of hope and fear and in the back of my…
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Green Witch
Plants were powerful vessels. Even the grass in the ground was green with unspoken vitality, woven into their fibers by the delicate hands of mother nature. Admiring the plants in the room, I murmured their incantations on the tip of my tongue, teasing the potency of the spells that rested in their roots. The air…
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THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS
A pair of figures entered the darkened Coliseum. They ascended the white marble stage and stepped into the circular spotlight. The first figure was a middle-aged man with keen eyes and a tall quiff of silver hair. He strutted toward one of two very different chairs behind the podium and took a seat. The chair…
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The Weight of Pine Trees
It doesn’t take long for his brother to die. There’s nothing particularly dramatic about it either- a cough coloured red, a shudder and an endless quiet as pale as the snow that falls on us. I’ve seen it all before. The tang of death doesn’t hold the same metallic heaviness it used to. I suppose…
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Meat
I was not ready. When she and her sister began carefully browsing the feeder after a single hour, it felt like something had gone wrong. The sanity test of my waiting and the natural world it reveals still lay ahead: the darkening changes in the sky, disappearing contours of brush, the straining of my senses.…
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Michael the Psychic
I called Michael Umlauf on a Friday afternoon, requesting an interview in the form of a voice mail. He returned my call within the hour. “Yes, I can do tomorrow,” he said. “My wife just got out of the ICU so I’m going to see her at 1:30, but I can do before.” I remember…
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Sillage
In the city of lights there lived a blind old man named Didier. In the mornings he cried, in the evenings he drank, and his bones ached always. He had a son, Michel, and a wife, Ana, who both loved him while Ana was alive. Didier enjoyed eating, and he typically visited different bakeries around…
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Saturday Mourning
When someone gets cremated, their bodies are burned with dozens of other dead people. Addie told me this three days after her grandmother died. “So that urn sitting on my parent’s mantelpiece in Alabama—the one holding my great aunt—that’s not just my great aunt?” I asked, scraping my fork across my plate to grab…
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Ten to Sven
It’s not quite 9:00am, and Stacy and John have been arguing back and forth for the last half hour, and the exchange has drawn a crowd. Ashley, Bob, and Gunther from IT watch, as Claudia, Deshaun, Smirha, and Greg rubberneck from sales. No one from HR is there. That’s what Ron and Glenda are doing.…
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Five out of Five
So, way back when I was in the second grade, they started these commercials on TV during Saturday morning cartoons when kids all over America ruled the TV dial, as you might recall. And this quip came up: “Four out of five dentists recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum” as if most…