Christmas in the City by Julie?Morgan King A medley of cathedral bells punctures late afternoon apathy and heads look up to find the source of the din. They?ll see nothing, no lonely hunchback hanging off a rope. Just a tall thin spire recently unveiled with predictable pomp and ceremony. A perfect match to its magnificent […]

House for Sale by George Eyre Masters It was October. The steel sign on the front lawn was blue and white and too damn big. Cutting the grass, I had to work around the sign and I didn?t mind banging it with my machine. The house watched me from all her windows. She knew and […]

The Jinx ?by Adam Renn Olenn Five hundred lousy bucks, that’s how close I got to taking care of the car, the rent, credit cards, everything. I came in with two grand and almost walked out with the whole eighteen. I know it was that waitress, I could smell the jinx on her. They probably […]

Failure is Challengeable ?by Jerry Olasakinju A year after his graduation from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, Desmond Adele knew exactly what he was going to do. Unlike his contemporaries who spent much of their limited resources going from one office to another doing interviews with banks, oil and telecommunications companies, looking for cushy […]

Mummy Says by Lee Ann Petropoulos?   The curtains shivered gently in the breeze.? Sally sat on the stool, staring out the second floor window, as she had done every day since her mother died.? Not a word, not a caress, not a look had she given a single human since that day.? Trays of […]

Surgeries by Amanda Leduc Help!? I am trapped inside a fortune cookie! We laughed, because we thought it was funny.? Help.? I?m trapped inside a cookie.? How amusing.? How droll.? You tucked the fortune in your pocket (the back pocket, with the butterfly, the jeans that I loved) and left the cookie.? You were on […]

  Found & Lost ?by Jarret Liotta The big man stood in my doorway effortlessly holding Buddy?poor Buddy, slumped and lifeless, patched with blood. ?Oh ? no,? I whispered. ?I?m very sorry,? he said. ?You must be very sad.? His voice was low. His soft blue eyes sought to feel my pain, searched my reaction […]

  What Was Born by Michelle Soucy She couldn?t decide what she hated the most about her husband.? He lay next to her, breathing.? She hated his breath. Too loud, forced.? Who breathed like that?? Was he doing it on purpose?? She shifted her leg to take some pressure off of her aching lower back, […]

Holy Water ?by Keith Hoerner I stand at the kitchen sink washing the one thing I took from home after you died: The Madonna and Child statue I meditated on kneeling before you ? being beaten, traumatized, loving you, year after year. I wash it gently, remembering the time you unknowingly soaked a statue of […]