Categotry Archives: Fiction
Ella
“Wow! Look at that ride! I want to go on it. Can I, Daddy? Can I? And the carousel, and the fun house, and roller coaster…” Ella dragged on her father’s hand in an effort to go everywhere at once. “Slow down, Ella.” “But tomorrow the fair goes away! What do we do then?” Ella threw her hands out in an exaggerated version of a gesture her mother often used. “Well… I’ve been thinking. How would you like a carousel […]
Suzie’s House 425 : A Certain Something
Ethan fell back a step. Two men were kissing right in front of him, one of whom had invited him to spend the night. “Um…” He couldn’t quite keep the worry out of his voice. He glanced at the trees surrounding the fancy, cubist-style condo on whose front step these two men were absorbed in such a public display of affection. One of them made a little moaning sound, and the hair on the back of Ethan’s neck stood on […]
A Clean Sweep
The Christmas gift turned out to be a roomba. What a time saver! She couldn’t wait to send it off around her house, cleaning all the carpets she’d so long neglected. Operation seemed simple enough. Just press the button, right? What did she need the instruction sheet for? Ten minutes later the roomba took a nose dive down the stairs. Some people called it suicide. The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Photo credit: Marie Gail Stratford Yeah, maybe it’s a little short […]
Suzie’s House 424 : Nice Ride, Young Man
Ethan changed his mind about imposing on the nice young man who had given him a pizza. He didn’t feel right about taking so much. He had just stepped off the concrete square at the foot of the pizzeria’s back door when the young man came into the alley driving a Lamborghini.
FF- Slow Reactions
Murphy O’Brian was the first to die. At five in the morning he staggered home from the bar. On a flight of fancy, he jumped to the railing along the Eastside Bridge. Headlights flashing into his eyes on the left, murky, slow moving water to the right, he was rather proud of his ability to balance. When the giant tentacle wrapped around his waist he assumed it was just his drunken imagination. The second to die was a salesman trying […]
Suzie’s House 423 : A Righteous Young Man
Once Ethan had gobbled down a couple of slices of pizza, his stomach protested. He lingered over the open box, loath to part with it even though eating anything more would probably push him from queasy mortifying. It was too rich to eat in one sitting after so long without food.
Time Waits
He told his wife he was going out to buy a pack of cigarettes. That was twenty three years ago. Since then he’d traveled the world a dozen times over performing covert ops for a branch of the government that she wouldn’t know existed. She was never given any explanation for his absence. No calls, no letters, no body. He kept tabs on her. When she remained alone all those years he thought she must truly love him. He passed […]
Suzie’s House 422 : Dumpster Diving Son
“Score!!!” While still standing in the dumpster, Jim opened the pizza box so his new buds could all see. “Wow! A whole, perfectly good pizza. I told you Minnesota was the way to go.” Rick smiled with that smug look that made Jim want to pop him. But you don’t go punching the guy who owns the van.
FF – Canoes
Marge eyed the canoe with misgivings. In Bogotá the rental canoe sank as soon as the man renting it disappeared around a bend. In Alaska it took fifteen tourists paddling hard for two hours to get the heavy canoe across a little nothing of a lake. In Patagonia a whole fleet of fluorescent pink fiberglass canoes that looked stupid in front of such grandeur ruined a lot of her pictures. “What’s the matter, Marge? Never been in a canoe before?” […]
Suzie’s House 421 : Dumpster Diving Dad
Nathan only meant to lean into the dumpster and take a look. He just wanted to see if Dangerous Dan had given him false information to get rid of him, or might have shown a shred of humanity in guiding him to this spot. He wasn’t really going to eat anything that had been thrown away. Or so he told himself. Once he got the lid thrown back and smelled the pizza within, he lost control. It smelled fresh. Really […]
Unique
Alicia followed her Aunt Jane into the apartment. She didn’t like the city as much as she thought she would. Aunt Jane made it sound exciting and wonderful. She kept talking about opportunity and the richness of culture. All Alicia saw was noisy people. “Isn’t this a grand apartment? I love it! It’s the only place of it’s kind.” Aunt Jane gestured grandly. “Really?” Alicia looked out the window into an apartment across the street. She couldn’t tell the difference […]
Suzie’s House 420 : How Did You End Up Here, Ethan?
“How did I get where I am?” Ethan looked up and down the grassy strip separating the WalMart parking lot from the main thoroughfare. He eyed the old bum next to him. “Do you really want to know?”
Crank Call
The cards came out all wrong. No matter which way Glen loaded them into the ENIAC, they came out jumbled. No wonder the program wouldn’t run. But how to fix it? Glen called Betty and explained. “That’s easy. First, go to room three. Walk behind the panel on the right all the way to the back. Open the lower cupboard. Then turn the crank a quarter turn to the left.” It worked like a charm. Next time he saw her, […]
Suzie’s House 419 : Ethan Spanging
“So how long have you been spanging?” A grizzled old man with stains on his jeans and shirt that Ethan didn’t want to think about. “Spu… spu…. what?” Ethan didn’t know what to do with his eye. He glanced at the old man, then at the WalMart sign next to them, then at the stream of cars taking the turn out of the WalMart parking lot. “Spanging. You know – asking for spare change. SpareChange. Spange. How long you been […]
Suzie’s House 418 : Talent
Justin drifted out of the living room where most of his aunts and some cousins and his mother were planning a baby shower. He passed the den where most of his uncles sat in front of the TV watching a football game in re-runs and acting like they’d never seen it before. Someone in the kitchen started tapping out a rhythm with a spoon on a bottle. Justin just naturally drifted that direction. Sure enough Cousin Joe had a beer […]
