Fiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 Housewarming by Andrew Eastwick hen they got to Phoebe’s place Bridget popped the trunk of her car. She tested the glass doors of the barrister bookcase, which the seller had secured with tape and rope. It was heavy, but they eased it out of the trunk and onto a big piece of flattened cardboard, which they dragged across the sidewalk and into the lobby of the apartment building. The ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 It Goes On by Tiffany Chaloux t always starts with the light switch. Light switch on. Light switch off. Light switch on. Light switch off. The band of tightness in my chest eases. Now the front door. Lock, unlock, lock, unlock, lock, unlock, lock. With each click and glide, more relief. But more to do. I make my rounds around my room next, straightening already straight piles of books, papers. Next, I touch the ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 Riding the Rails by Anne Anthony stretch the skin of a lawyer over the girl who colored outside the lines. The longer I wear this skin, the longer it takes to peel off at the end of the day. Commuting into Boston, a forty-minute back-and-forth journey transforms little league coaches and PTA moms into financial brokers and corporate accountants. Few talk or nod, though all follow common ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Jake by Paul Rosenblatt hortly after my 83rd birthday I moved to a mammoth, seven-story red brick senior citizen housing complex occupying a city block in a gritty part of town. It’s a place for elders who need help or soon will need help with daily living, anything from occasional hot meals and once a week cleaning of one’s little apartment to around-the-clock intensive nursing. I’m relatively healthy for ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 At the Heart of It by Alice Ranjan y aunt is on stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington-DC, wearing a golden headdress and a fuchsia silk garment that is secured with an elaborate golden belt around her waist. She presses her thumbs against their respective palms, arches her four other fingers and wrists backwards towards her upper arms, and raises both arms outwards like the wings of ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Thirteen Knives of Grape Jelly by Patricia Dutt hen the doctor says, “Serious and persistent,” the mother, because she has no emotional shelf for this concept, imagines Japanese Knotweed pushing up through asphalt; knotweed that you must knock down, and repeatedly because its roots are tenacious and robust. The moment you turn your back, the plant grows stronger, and more resistant than ever into a dense, six-foot-tall hedge ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 The Doctor Behind the Curtains by Adam Strassberg he doctor was standing behind the curtains. Doctor Falsh parted the thick blue drapes with a flourish, then slid them closed ceremonially. His interview room was small and windowless - not much more than a glorified closet - but it was placed conveniently, especially for a locked unit, located just next to the row of patient dorm rooms and just across ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Smoke, No Fire by Shena Crane am here to keep my bones from melting. This is my first time in an infusion suite, a tired beige hospital room with four hulking recliners, where patients usually receive chemotherapy. But I’m not here for chemo. Just a bone strengthener. I don’t have active cancer—the cancerous cells residing in my bones are officially classified as “smoldering.” Medically, this means my wayward ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Help by Leah Rose tella, I swear to God, if you don’t stop tapping that freaking pencil….” “Huh? Oh, sorry.” I was able to sit still for all of about three seconds before starting to fiddle with the mechanical pencil again. Cole sighed, looking up from his biology textbook. “Something on your mind?” “Nope,” I lied, shaking my head. “Okay. Well, whenever you feel like talking about it, I’ll be right ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 If Music Be the Food of Love by Alice Ranjan eeta did not know what to do with her hands. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and rocked back and forth. She gripped her chair and then admonished herself for straining her fingers –a risk she should have avoided since she was a cellist. Ultimately, she shielded her face with her hands, obscuring the white ...
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