‘Fiction’ Archives
City Canyons
No matter how closely I press against the window, I can’t see the street below. An enormous skyscraper blocks my view. Nor can I see the sky. All the buildings rise so high, spread so wide, that I can see only the other windows opposite, perhaps ten stories up and ten stories down. On the other three sides it’s the same, the same view of [...]
Dreaming Crow
Black branches spread above me, etched into evening blue. The winter tree is leafless and gnarled, yet it reaches, stretching up into an endless ache of sky. Limbs explode into feathers, as crows take flight. Black as the tree, they break from the branches, scattering its silhouette beyond my vision. For a moment I am breathless, full of [...]
The Last Saturday Matinee
The weather was perfect on that Saturday morning. It had rained off and on the night before, and now everything was damp and fresh and somehow renewed. I was excited nearly beyond control because my big brother, Stephen, was home on leave from the United States Army after completing basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He [...]
After the Magic
On the courthouse lawn stood two gleaming statues of golden stone, a man and woman holding hands, smiling at each other. Both stood on no base but their own feet and possessed such detail it seemed they might stroll off. Before them, a mother and little girl stood bathed in twilight; the mother turned to an elderly man on a metal bench [...]
Quiet River
The air was still the day he crossed the flowing border of the town. The air was still, and the sun leaned on this side of the river as his hiking boots rang the dull timbers of the bridge. The gnats and mosquitoes held their convention along the length of the river and shore, and they swarmed a halo around the stranger, but, I [...]
Pursuit of Happiness
There was a man whose memories of happy moments could be counted on one hand. Food always tasted strangely to him; even his mother's milk had been slightly off. As a child, he saw nothing pleasant in nature, full as it was of bumblebees, honking geese, and the heartbreaking loneliness of buzzing cicadas. Childish play was a daily exercise in [...]
The Broken Cross, Part 2
2 Early June during my high school years was a time between things. I was not a child now; I was not an adult. No more high school, no more Sunday School until after Labor Day. What would I do in my free time? At fifteen, I was too old to ride my bicycle around town and too young for a New Jersey driving learner's permit. I was also jobless but [...]
My Maturing Experience
When I first saw Amrit, she was sixteen. I was dazzled by her beauty. It was evident to me that God Brahma was in a relaxed, cheerful mood and had spent a long time to make such a perfect specimen. She was the only child of the Thati Village chief, and her parents adored her. She was tall and slim with light brown skin and large brown eyes which [...]
The Weakest Witch
We see a room with wooden floor and walls. The furniture consists of a table, two chairs, a writing desk and wooden chest. The remains of a meal — a pewter flagon, a plate with some crusts and cheese rinds on it and a folded napkin — lie on the table. To one side, a window lets in the evening light, but due to the poor quality of [...]
Power Failure
"So, where should we meet?" Dan Roberts asked over the telephone. "It's supposed to be a public place the first time, although that seems silly. We've been e-mailing, talking on the phone, instant messaging and trading photos for a month now." Gloria Redmond laughed. "So we'll follow protocol. How about the Dresden [...]
