THE GIFT by Nancy Lines
Sundays in the Russell household were usually quiet – relatively quiet, at least. There were no nurses or other hospice staff bustling about, taking Rob’s blood pressure, asking him how he feels,...
AN INCIDENT WITH SOME CRACK by Daniel Senser
What can I say? I was a pot head. Of course, it was more complicated than that. I needed an escape because I was so blind to the way life really was,...
RED by Zeyneb Kaya
When they told us to stand, we all rose. When they told us to look ahead, we directed our gaze. When they told us, silence, we let the...
LIKE THEY’RE WAITING by David Biddle
Like They’re Waiting
Most mornings I drank coffee on the back porch observing as they foraged on vine berries, honeysuckle, and new grass. The cat perched on a crumbling...
PRODIGY by Mark Czanik
Prodigy
‘I’ve just been to Paris for a year.’
‘Oh, that’s nice,’ said Sadie, looking up from her decimated brassica bed to see a little...
FULL OF GRACE by Thomas Carlson
Gloria Delaney sat at her desk as her fourth graders settled in to their math quiz. She’d just begun on the stack of writing assignments she was hoping to correct when...
MOTHER LOVE Nancy Smith Harris
Photo by Nick Fewings~Unsplash
Mother Love
I missed my first high school interview—the one at the Stephens School for Boys—because on her...
STORMY’S BAR by Doug Smith
Tom’s hospice patient wore a three-piece suit for Tom’s initial visit. In addition to the three-piece suit, Jim wore a freshly pressed white and blue striped shirt and a red tie. His...
THE TRUTH by Tawney Mesick
"I can't believe they got a pastor to come speak at my damn funeral," I said, "Saying shit about how this was an unfortunate event… Yeah, makes it sound like it was...
THIS JOURNEY CALLED LIFE by Kenneth Bastian
“Good afternoon,” Daddy Hooks, said Mark; Hooks opened the door to let him inside. Hooks was Mark’s mentor, since the two met in the military. Hooks was 20 years older than...
