Blog Archives

Oh, Icarus..., by Dawn Knox

27/9/2024

Editor's Choice

This time, Icarus had followed his dad’s instructions.

He’d taxied along the runway and was about to take off when his earbuds had fallen out and he’d lost contact with air traffic control. His legs were almost exhausted.

Then, a bit of luck. A jumbo jet had assisted his take-off, boosting him into the air. The pilot had gesticulated that Icarus should get off the nose cone but that was easier said than done, although finally, he’d freed himself and plummeted to earth.

Thankfully, his fall was broken by the softened wax and broken feathers.
Back to the drawing board.

The Busy Body, by Robert Martin

27/9/2024

No one takes care of their gardens. It was up to me to take the loriope from the Greenes’ yard and plant it in the common area. Didn’t they know their patch was overgrown? The Ferbers’ hostas were fading. I had to cut them back. The Woolfs’ yard—so dull! Marigolds from the Butlers made it so much prettier. The whole neighborhood looks better.

But plants can be unpredictable. No matter how often I take it out, that horrible smelling Crown Imperial keeps coming back, always at my doorstep. No wonder no one stops by to thank me.

First Day, Last Day, by Andy Millman

27/9/2024

On Thomas Kerrington’s first day at MacCarthur High School, he and twelve other new teachers met at the forest for teambuilding. Things went well until the tire challenge. After being hoisted up by his English department teammates, Thomas struggled to pull himself through the car tire hanging from the tree. His sweatpants caught on the tire’s treads. As he worked his way through the tire, the sweatpants worked their way down his legs. They were around his ankles when he tumbled onto the forest floor. Thomas’s team received credit for the challenge but he didn’t much care by this point.

Top o' the Mornin', by William P Adams

27/9/2024

Toby, grade four, brought his new top to school.

Spinning on the smooth gym floor with the grade six kids before class, Toby whipped it expertly.

Ronnie strolled over and admired Toby’s form and his top.

“Hey, kid, nice spin action, you’re a natural.”

“Thanks, Ronnie.”

“Bet you could spin it, run around the school, and it’d still be going when you got back.”

“Think so?”

“I know so.”

Toby whipped his top and bolted outside, running like the wings of Mercury were on his feet.

He made the circuit and returned, out of breath.

No Ronnie, no top.

Snookered.

Autumnal, by Rebekah Lawrence

27/9/2024

The colour drains from the hydrangea blooms and leaves rust on the trees. Brambles, small but plentiful, dot the hedgerows. Autumn is sneaking in from the sidelines; still barely perceptible, but gaining momentum.

There are many signs that I am also entering autumn. Colour draining from my hair and my skin rusting here and there. My children preparing to start the next generation.

But, for me, spring and summer are never coming round again, and winter lies a while ahead. At least in this lifetime; who knows what waits after winter ends. Perhaps I’ll have a new spring after all.

Step On A Crack, by Virginia Ashberry

27/9/2024

I used to be terribly afraid of stepping on cracks. You know… the ‘breaking your mother’s back’ thing.

The wooden floor in our old barn was a challenge, but luckily, the floors in our little shack of a house were all smooth linoleum.

It wasn’t till I got to college and was able to speak to a psych counsellor there, that I started to deal with memories of my mother coming to my bed in the middle of the night.

The counsellor says it’s okay for now… that I step on every crack possible… we can deal with that later.

The Old Bat and The Cookie Tin, by Allison Symes

27/9/2024

‘Sarah, cross grumpy brother off your “mug for a raffle ticket” scheme. I never win.’

‘Mike, why not donate something?’

‘Take this cookie tin that old bat next door gave me for Christmas. Your church folk can use it.’

‘Yes, several bakers could, including said old bat, Mrs Wilkins. You’re sure…?’

‘No!’

‘Okay. Thanks for the tin.’

A week later, Mike received a parcel. He found a raffle ticket on his donated tin, which contained bat shaped biscuits and a note.

'Enjoy, Mike. I bought you a ticket. The raffle supported the Bat Conservation Society. From old bat, Mrs Wilkins.'

An Undying Bond, by George Kraft

27/9/2024

As her beloved embraced her and leaned over her ear, she smiled in anticipation of what he was about to say. However, her joy soon gave way to horror when he spoke her late husband’s dying words in his sickly, croaking voice.

“I… have always… loved… you…”

He was about to say more when she snapped awake, heart racing. Breathing hoarsely, she turned on her side, expecting to see her beloved there, only to find herself staring into the decaying face of her late husband, poison-tainted blood dripping from his mouth.

“And I… will always… be… with… you…”

These Are Their Stories, by Simon Nadel

27/9/2024

“Law and Order’s” depressing me
So stop watching.
I can’t. I want to turn it off but then the next one starts.
You’re like an addict. Maybe it’s because you stopped drinking.
I didn’t stop drinking.
Sorry, I heard you had.Why’s it making you depressed?
I think it’s because so many of the actors are dead. I saw one with Ron Silver the other day.
What was that movie where Anne Bancroft played his mother?
“Garbo Talks.” Steven Hill was in that too. And a very young Carrie Fisher.
Lots of dead people.
Yeah, I told you it’s depressing.

Cracks, by JP Lor

27/9/2024

Ky slipped. No one saw, but we heard the scream. It happens. Budget cuts meant wider cracks. Deeper holes. Orange cones and caution tape around campus kept them from slipping, but you know teenagers. Ky wasn’t one. He was smart, an overachiever. We dropped milk, celery, and tater tots. We tied jump ropes, hoping he’d climb back up.

One day, Coach yelled, “I got something!”

We ran out of our classrooms to rescue one student, pulling together, scraping our butts until Luke peeked from the ledge, milk mustache smiling.

“Guys, it’s just Luke.”

Luke’s a slipper.

“You can let go.”

A Mistake, by Ding Xiaohan

27/9/2024

A young lady soon married Jack after his ex left him bankrupt. She paid off all of Jack’s debts to help him restart his career and gave him a baby. However, Jack always came home wasted in the middle of the night. She once firmly believed he was out there working hard until she caught him making a mistake that “almost every man makes”. Days later, the young lady ended her life by jumping off the roof due to postpartum depression.
Now she’ll never know that Jack’s ex left him for the same mistake he made with her.

A Fraudster and a Rapist Meet, by Sherri Bale

27/9/2024

Who could think it was a good idea to assign a youngster convicted of massive crypto fraud and an over-the-hill rapper/accused sex trafficker to the same jail cell? Admittedly, they did have one thing in common; both were obviously innocent.

It was no surprise they became fast friends while incarcerated. The crypto guy converted his new BFF to veganism. The rapist taught his cellmate how to read social cues. His mother had told the court he needed help with that.

Upon release, they opened Ditty & Banks Vegan Virgins Money Laundry, going public in no time and amassing new fortunes.

In Conclusion, by Louise Arnott

27/9/2024

Dee passed her story to Hank. He read the five thousand words.

“Where’s the rest?”

“That’s it.”

“The denouement is absent.”

She beamed. “Done on purpose, Hank. I’m going to run a contest. Readers will send me a conclusion plus a five dollar entry fee. I’ll use the best one.”

“What’s in it for the reader?”

“Mention in the acknowledgements. Everybody wants their name in print.”

“Are you nuts? How’s that an incentive? Who gets the money?”

“Me, to cover my costs. Is Dee brilliant or what?”

Hank chose silence as the wisest response, hoping she’d reach her own conclusion.

The Duel, by Pamela Kennedy

27/9/2024

Tonight was later than usual to be closing the shop. While locking up, Betsy Morovis heard a gravely voice coming from behind, "Don't do that. I don't want to shoot you out here."

Betsy knew it was Jerry Malone, her former partner who felt screwed over from their last heist. She deftly pulled out her gun. Turning around she responded in the sweetest tone, "Jerry, that
would make me very, very mad and your dingle berries so very, very sad."

Jerry stood firm as he steadily held his gun.

BANG!

Tell me now, Who shot whom?

Baywatch in the Distance, by Paul Germano

27/9/2024

Just for fun, as dusk approaches, the lanky 16-year-old acts like he’s drowning, his skinny arms flailing in a pretend panic, hopeful that the Pamela Anderson look-a-like will come to his rescue. She’s not present-day Pamela; she’s Baywatch-era Pamela. To himself, he whispers: “Do what lifeguards do. Come save me sweet Pamela, cradle me in your, um, arms; give me mouth-to-mouth.” Instead, it’s the other lifeguard, the Hasselhoff dude who jumps into action, running full speed, backlighted by the fading Sun. Annoyed, the lanky 16-year-old stands up, snarls, spits water out of his mouth and tells the lifeguard: “I’m okay.”

Peace is Preferable, by Sivan Pillai

27/9/2024

The war planes flew low, pounding everything below. Barely escaping, I rushed to a bombed house.
A man lay on the floor, bleeding from several wounds. I recognized him as the guy who had supported the war, justifying the destruction of the small enemy country. But it had not happened so. Even after months, the war continued, and the enemy got help from many countries. Now, it had started bombing the bigger enemy.
"Go to the basement and lie face down," he told me. About to die, he managed to mumble, "I was wrong. Peace is always preferable."

The Branches that Bind, by Krystyna Fedosejevs

27/9/2024

He stared into a mirror, stroking the few hairs crowning his glossy head. Another elderly man perfected a bow tie over the pressed shirt he wore.

They were strangers to each another, living on different continents, one older than the other.

Curious offspring insisted on updating their respective family trees while elderly members were still alive, and that’s when an incredible discovery was made.

While the younger senior of the two was a child he was kidnapped from a playground— not to be seen again, not until…

the two brothers were to meet, after being apart for some sixty years.

Hardened, by Don Tassone

27/9/2024

When stricter gun laws and even indicting the parents of teenage shooters didn’t curb the number of school shootings, administrators began “hardening” their buildings.

They invested in a host of security measures. Lock-down infrastructure, surveillance systems, metal detectors, body scanners, improved lighting, perimeter fencing, resource officers, even arming teachers.

Such measures were effective. But they were also expensive, and many school programs and activities had to be sacrificed, from bus service to sports.

And for most kids, going to school became an ordeal, an ominous, joyless, daunting experience. Schools became hardened. But so did a generation of young people.

Because the Wall Didn't Do its Job, by Gordon Lawrie

27/9/2024

In Spring, the migrants came north, encouraged by improved weather and better life opportunities. "The Wall" proved no barrier.

There’s little doubt that the migrants were helping themselves to whatever food they could find easily, but rumours spread that they were eating people’s pets. Getting it all wrong, one politician insisted that “In Springfield, they’re eating cats and dogs.”

It was all the encouragement the locals needed. Chanting the Second Amendment in unison, they took up arms against these ‘aliens’. The result was carnage. By September, millions of hawks, kites and falcons had gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon.

Once Gone, Home Again, by Rinanda Hidayat

27/9/2024

They said she would never come back. They called me stupid. They called me delusional. They told me to grow up.

They said I can always find another. They don’t understand, they would never understand, she was special, she was my first, and when she left, she shattered my world.

But now she’s here, and my heart is whole once more. I hold her tight and vow to never let go, never ever. Through storm, through rain, and fall, we’ll be together forevermore, me and the red balloon I lost a day before.

Lost? by Kingston Marsch

27/9/2024

Oxford is notorious for people stumbling into strange other worlds: girls tumbling down burrows or through mirrors; children finding adventures via cupboards; portals parked among trees on the Ring Road.
Total bunkum! thought Jake, stalking disdainfully down High Street. The product of troubled imaginations stimulated by posh boarding schools and monotheism, he huffed.
A tap on his arm called him from his reverie. A swarthy dwarf with green hair peered up, looking lost.
“’scuse me, mate. Can you tell me where I am? You see, I was walking in the Twinkling Woods and I fell down this hole ...”

Off His Meds, by Deborah Robinson

27/9/2024

Maybe he doesn’t want to be married anymore.

Or maybe she really has become more annoying, nags too much, or is she really wasting too much money?

Seventy-five dollars to cover gray roots, but she tries to look pretty . . . for him.

He says she’s on the internet too much and that she’s been snoring. He can’t sleep.

He thinks that the cats are meowing too loudly. The cats have got to go!

He has a surprise for her . . . six months off his meds and it’s going great . . . if idiots would just quiet the hell down.

A Poet and a Yogi, by Sankar Chatterjee

27/9/2024

Decades ago, the newly independent, multi-religious country would chart secular democracy as its path. Growing up, the millennial firebrand poet benefited from the freedom of expressions and political beliefs. Lately, a young fiery saffron-clad yogi from the major religion entered into politics, preaching the message of hate.

The misogynist monk recently issued a veiled dictum of “no immorality in denigrating the women from religious minorities.” The shocked poet mocked him in social media “Dehumanizing a woman with your condom-wrapped religious trident?”

But days later, one ardent follower brutally raped and murdered a young woman of same faith in mistaken identity.

Meeting with the Boss, by David Margolin

27/9/2024

The Creator met with Mother Nature to discuss her yearly performance evaluation. The Creator spoke first, “I see that you are referring to yourself as ‘they’ now. That’s fine, I don’t have a gender either, but can we keep your name the same? ‘Don’t mess with Mother Nature,’ packs a lot more wallop than ‘Don’t mess with Gender-Neutral Nature.’ Also, I’m giving you an overall rating of ‘Exceeds Expectations’ this year. Planning and delivering the natural disasters are tough enough, now you have the distortions caused by global warming complicating your job.” Satisfied, Mother Nature smiled and exhaled a rainbow.

In the Cell, by Deborah Shrimplin

27/9/2024

Why am I locked up in here? I'm innocent. I didn't do anything wrong. I want to get out of here. I can hear the other prisoners screaming for freedom. I can smell their fear and panic. I can't sleep with worry. The bars are cruel. The guards don't understand me. They walk past me every day and look at me. They pity me and question my background. I need some fresh air. I'm trapped. Why? Why? I didn't do anything wrong.

"Mommy. Look. She's so cute. I want that one!" a little girl said and I wagged my tail.

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