Nagasaki Boy

Yashimoro rounded the corner of the beach and saw a massive sperm whale washed up on shore. He approached the beast cautiously, taking a circuitous…


The Unfinished Tower

Sanity is a curious thing, difficult to define, and usually deemed legitimate by the judgement of others. As I look out my bedroom window now,…


The Refugee on His Wife’s Birthday

For lunch, you take him to the Greasy Spoon. No joke---that is its real name---but the food, you swear, is good. Still, the dead, almost-gem-like…


Little Pills Like Pearls

He felt like shit, but then again, he always did. Today was no different. He sat with his councillor and listened. Wasn’t he supposed to do the…


#SpeakEasy

“#ThinkThenSpeak.” Tony glanced at the words printed with permanent ink on the cup of coffee he had ordered. He casually took it from the barista on…


Blood Knot, Part 3

V. Her apartment was huge. It was on the top floor of a twelve-story building. It looked as though it took up the whole twelfth floor. She slipped…


Bubblegum Cigarettes

Momma says she named me Dawn because I was born with a headful of hair as golden and radiant as the rising sun. When I was just a little girl, Momma…


The Busker

The shop sold incense and crystals, Native American flutes, and roughhewn natural clothing of no particular shape. The incense was overpowering. My…


Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Alice was glad to get back to her secluded sylvan cottage now that her week was at an end. Tom, the outside package deliveryman for the Braille…


Grounds

When Lori makes her second pot of coffee on Tuesday, she notices that she always refills the glass canister of grounds when it is only half empty. So…