Fiction – Year V – Number 40 – September 2020

The Welfare Check Joe Harkness stamped his feet outside of his squad car, trying to knock as much of the grey slush from his boots as he could before sliding in.  It was a futile,...

DOJOJI  By David Massey             I am pacing, like a wild animal in a cage, waiting for Mr. Mason.  He will be carrying a gun, and I expect to die and my whole family, too.  And...

The Kiss Kayla wanted to kiss a man at 12:45 a.m. under the midnight sun during the finale of the fireworks display in Eagle River, Alaska. That was her goal. “It would be sooooooo romantic,” she...

Holy Sword By Kevin Auker As the summer sun rained down on the kingdom of Scarlet, manning his post as normal was the king’s trusted knight Xavier. His job was simple, to not allow anyone to...

Don't Tell He stands next to my desk and uses this pen with green ink to mark my homework.  I’m so used to the red markings that every other teacher uses, I have to stare...

TEX MOSTLY        It was August, and it was hot. Mom moved my older brother Hank and me from a Lowell triple-decker apartment to our father’s farm hidden deep in the New England woods. With...

                              Conjured                                                             Jamie shivered, and pulled the covers closer around himself. He escaped into his book and illuminated every word with a flashlight. The sounds in the rest of the house...

           LIES  (As Mentiras)   William Torphy      Docento was a master on the pandeiro, the Brazilian tambourine, and was considered the best percussionist in Santa Teresa, one of Rio’s many crowded hillside neighborhoods where music could...

Malcolm at Midlife It had been two months, which was longer than usual. She was prettier than some of the others, more interesting. Cassandra. Even her name was interesting. It was more than that, though–she...

Lone Star Dan Carpenter "You're here with the conference?" the clerk asked as he paid for his inspirational paperback and his Dentyne. "Al-Anon," he replied, trying to meet her lowered blue-green eyes and instinctively bumping up his...