Nonfiction

An Ambulance Across the River Styx—Kasia Kalinowska

Nonfiction Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 An Ambulance Across the River Styx by Kasia Kalinowska n March, New York City’s soundscape dramatically shifted. Someone had dragged the usual levels of sidewalk arguments, street vendor sales pitches, and the buzz of hundreds of rubber tires down to a hum, remastering the track with a looping blare of sirens. I noticed it for the first time on a walk. I hadn’t been outside for over ...

Thank My Lucky Scars by Rachel Stone

Nonfiction Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Thank My Lucky Scars by Rachel Stone or hours, we flung ourselves off the side of the fishing boat into the steeped-tea pond, laughing too hard to form words. The eldest screamed. The fish were biting his toes! The boat pitched like fresh walleye, skinned knees barrel-rolling to safety with an aluminum thunk, alto shrieks curdling the July sky. My life jacket snagged on the tin frame, leaving me ...

A Pony Named Pixie—Allison Oesterle

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 A Pony Named Pixie by Allison Oesterle wo sets of eyes stare up from the page. One of them is my own, or at least the 13-year-old version of me. The other set belongs to a pony who is surely long dead, preserved only in memory and countless photographs pasted into albums or stuffed into books. I still find them from time to time, tucked away ...

Whiteboards and Courage—Beth Burgmeyer

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Whiteboards and Courage by Beth Burgmeyer he house that love built.” I remember the slogan, but never really knew what a Ronald McDonald House was. Until now. Until tragedy brings me to the house in Iowa City. From the moment I walk through the doors after four days of hell—and however many more are to come—I feel that love, that grace. The house manager takes me on ...

Comorbidity—Todd Richardson

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Comorbidity by Todd Richardson y brother’s skin felt like a lukewarm dish towel as I held him against the wall. It took two palms pressed into his chest to keep him from bouncing all over his bedroom. I was 17. My brother, two years older, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia a few years before. We were friends once—backyard brothers pretending to be Huck Finn and Tom ...

Because of Ryan—Wendy Kennar

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Because of Ryan by Wendy Kennar everal years ago, a physical therapist told me to never fully give in to the pain. To never just spend the day in bed. “Not possible,” I said. “I have a five-year-old son. Staying in bed all day simply isn’t an option.” I live with an invisible disability, a rare autoimmune disease called Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD). My rheumatologist described it ...

Boobs and Bones—Frances Park

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Boobs and Bones by Frances Park ehind the front desk, the staff, a youngish flock, flits about. In the waiting room, older women somberly scroll through cell phones. Well, we’re not here to have fun, folks, we’re about as thrilled as growing gray. Get in, get out, get on with our lives. I’m asked to sign in, which I do with a wobbly scrawl. Why can’t ...

Dancing in the Dark—Susan Sparrow

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Dancing in the Dark by Susan Sparrow ango lessons tonight?” I wiggle my eyebrows at Greg, laying on a thick Spanish accent. “Do you want to dance the forbidden dance of love?” “Oh, jeez! You’re serious? If you want, I guess.” He’s not enthusiastic, but then I hadn’t expected him to share my dream of one day dancing tango in an Argentinian milonga. A few years before, ...

Learning to See with Grandpa—Rosemary Gemmell

Nonfiction Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Learning to See with Grandpa by Rosemary Gemmell randpa McNeill was unlike all the other grandfathers in our town on the west coast of Scotland. My grandpa was blind. We knew Grandpa was blinded after an accident when he worked on the railways long ago, and that he walked with a white stick. But it didn’t seem to hold him back and he was always cheerful. Besides, ...