By Mark Kodama I. The Poker Game I try not to think about what happened that day at Afton Canyon. Nobody here in Hadleysville ever talks about it. But today is the […]

By: Eric Burbridge Being born and raised in this state I’ve seen the worst criminals sit in their cells awaiting execution in surroundings that half the world would envy. These individuals are […]

By: James Bates We were walking home at sunset from the neighborhood rink, skates swings from the blades of our hockey sticks. Little Eddie was eight years old, younger than me by […]

By: Mark Kodama Each step creaked as he ascended the stairs. His footsteps were light on the carpet. The door knob to her bedroom clicked. He lifted her thick cotton comforter and […]

By: Ram Govardhan On a cold February morning in 2007, President Abdul Kalam’s motorcade was an hour away from Coonoor, the civilian town near Wellington Cantonment in Ooty. He was on his […]

By: Matej Purg The boy’s feet barely touched the floor as he sat at the dining room table. He was staring at his math book, but he couldn’t focus on the problem […]

By Matej Purg It happened on a Tuesday afternoon, a block or so from where I parked my car. I was certain to get a ticket now, navigating hordes of slow-moving tourists […]

By: Samuel Evans Ilsa crouched amid the clumps of fallen leaves, examining the beetle intently with narrowed eyes.  Her little brother— whose fascination with the beetle had worn off several minutes ago— […]

By: Mary Rohrer-Dann From upstairs comes a sound she cannot understand. Because she cannot understand it, she cannot walk to the stairs and peer up the cobwebbed steps sagging under all that […]

By Chitra Gopalakrishnan It is November, an odd time for rains, perhaps, yet it is when the north-east monsoon wavers over our region, sometimes generous but mostly not. I walk alone in the […]