Caught
“No, please let me---” she mumbled. Something heavy pressed on top of her; she couldn’t move. Being pinned against a strong, hard body, her arms in…
Flowers from the Market
The bottle was halfway to empty. I had hoped that I would feel less by now, but the pain continued, the numbing I had anticipated stayed out of…
Amen
Ray Winkel donated his waist-length hair to Locks of Love. As a rock star, it was his signature look. Every day, he did 3,000 crunches to keep that…
The Engineers, Part 6
Hours later, just as the sun is starting to crack the sky open with an amber slit, I’m jostling Willie out of bed, my legs and arm aching, telling…
Project Tony Montana
Here I was in Wuhan, China. The place where the pandemic that killed millions of people began. I was an obvious outsider, at six feet tall and with…
Cemetery Mishap
My next mistress was a gypsy. No, she was not one of those who roamed with the tabor, begging or fortune-telling at the market, dancing to the guitar…
Miss Tarrant’s Revenge
Claire Harris was a writer. The only identity she wanted; the only thing at which she excelled. She wrote as well as Virginia Woolf, Ursula Le Guin…
A Voice from the Past, Part 2
He entered holding the revolver, as if to face an unknown enemy, hoping to help his father in danger, but as soon as he arrived inside, his hope…
Rejection Collection
Chuck Spurnor was a collector. You may try to imagine all the sorts of things he could have chosen to collect, and you will probably be wrong. Chuck…
Negotiations with the Boss
Joan, the secretary, knocked on the door of her boss’ office, “You need me, sir?” “Yes, Joan, come on in,” the boss, a big-shouldered water buffalo,…
