Tag Archives: fiction

Mike & Pete & Tanya

This is only what was told to me. When Mike Sturm learned that Petey Magritte had passed away, he told his wife, Diane, “The ranks are thinning,” and she nodded and went back to her scandal magazine. Mike had known Petey Magritte since they attended second grade together in 1975. Mrs. Gallini’s class. In theContinue reading “Mike & Pete & Tanya”

Kaleidoscope

By Hank “Stale Crouton” Kirton Robust barrel-chested  Kchelogaveg yanked at a young white pine, testing the anchored clench of its root system. It would not budge. Out of frustration, or a performative outburst of masculine dominance, he pulled once more, using both hands (and a punctuating grunt).  It rocked slightly.  It was a straight, statelyContinue reading “Kaleidoscope”

Synaptic Damage

He was abrupt. With people. Many people disliked him because he was so abrupt. He answered questions with a hatchet. He urged you to stop wasting his time.   His name was Karl Jerome Baumgarten and he was eighty-three years old and worked as a greeter at the Granville Busy-Mart. He was abrupt with the customers. Continue reading “Synaptic Damage”

The Job Interview

I’m nervous at a job interview, desperate to make a good impression. I really need the gig. My bank account has been wilting like a weed during a drought. The office is spare, stark, and cold. There’s nothing on the walls but beige paint. The Hiring Manager’s heavy mahogany desk stretches empty before him, aContinue reading “The Job Interview”

Loose Change

The adult dropped out of a red dream and came awake wondering where he was. He lifted his head with groggy, imprecise panic and focused his eyes on the darkness in front of him, searching for something familiar, something tangible to grasp. As the world emerged, he saw the gray drapes, slightly luminous from theContinue reading “Loose Change”