REAL IS THE RARER THING By Roger Topp
REAL IS THE RARER THINGby Roger Topp
“It’s near checkout time and I need to escape the hotel without paying.” Imogen has abandoned me, never returning to the room last night. I send the text...
NELS NORMANN’S LAST PROBLEM by Kimm Stammen
NELS NORMANN'S LAST PROBLEMBy Kimm Brockett Stammen
It was on a remote Northern California trout stream in August, 1920, that Nels Normann encountered his first problem. “At 18 months of age, I became dissatisfied with...
FROM THERE TO HERE By Donald Zagardo
FROM THERE TO HEREby Donald Zagardo My head doesn’t hurt so much anymore, not like it did back in Iraq or where the hell we were. Maybe I’m getting better, yeah maybe, yeah.It was very...
OTHERNESS By Isabel Armiento
OTHERNESSUnpacking and questioning the ethics of passing versus publicizingby Isabel Armiento
As a science-fiction fanatic, I am fascinated by the way appearance can be so instantly othering.
The “other” is often synonymous with the “grotesque” –...
SWALLOWING By Rachel Cavell
SWALLOWING
By Rachel Cavell
Exactly one week after I almost died from choking on a piece of steak, my daughter sent me a link to a dress she wanted to buy for her law school summer...
IN THE DAYS WHEN THE SKY WAS COBALT By Deborah Paes De Barros
IN THE DAYS WHEN THE SKY WAS COBALT
By Deborah Paes de Barros
The giant earthmovers—the backhoe and the bulldozer and other machines I couldn’t identify—had been gone for three days. There was a gaping hole...
ByE By Kimberly McElreath
BYEby Kimberly McElreath
Other parents would beam with pride over their child’s first word and argue lovingly about the loyalty of the child whether he or she identified with “mama” or “dada.” My first communication...
NUOVO MONDO By Michela Valmori
NUOVO MONDOBy Michela Valmori
Grasping the sodden wood with both hands, I pushed the shutters wide apart. An overwhelming light filled the damp room. As my eyes adjusted a spring breeze followed suit, freeing the...
PENNY IN APRIL by Marlena Baraf
PENNY IN APRILby Marlena Baraf We are putting the grandkids to bed in the pretty room we call the grandkids room, two white beds and a periwinkle-blue chest in the middle. I’d asked the girls...