Leslie Doyle My youngest brother, Jim, is looking really weird up there at the altar right now. Rocking on his heels nervously but also yawning like he’s about to fall asleep. As if he’d just...
Leigh Claire Schmidli It’s not often the case, but we’re all hungry for dinner about the same time that night. Me and Anka, my landlady. Her fat-cat Bazo. We collide in the tiny kitchen, circling...
Jared Povanda When your sister married Charlie, you wanted to punch him. Do you remember the weight of my arms around your middle? That ficus in the huge terracotta pot scratching our faces? The hall...
Mohamed Morshed Mustafa emerged from the tunnel that led him out of the airplane and stepped into the airport. There were numerous lines of people facing glass booths; he joined the shortest line,...
Wendy BooydeGraaff Cracked Fake Leather Sit on the bar stool for the zillionth time, eating the spaghetti and meatless balls (tofu? seitan? you still can’t get it straight after three years) your...
Ellie Cheng They say they can’t find your son when you wake up. Edward, you try to say. Edward David Solomon when he’s running away from bathtime in his Spiderman undies, Eddie for...
Melissa Darcey Hall We meet on the first night. Sandy-eyed, thirsty, and half awake, I tip-toe to the kitchen, careful not to wake Wesley, and there she is, sitting at the kitchen table painting her...
Kenneth Jakubas I’m giving specific instructions in my will that I be buried with items from one year in my life. Being a nostalgic person, I chose the twentieth year. I wanted all of 2009 in...
Callie G. Mauldin You push the church’s gate door open and walk past the wild verbena, fuchsia palls of fire at your feet. Your heartbeat quickens. The church’s box-shaped form could be mistaken...
Faith Shearin 2022 Spring Fiction Contest Winner During the months after her husband, Max, died, Jane adhered to a self-imposed schedule. She had gotten this idea from a widow she’d met in her...
