By L. Burton Brender For Jim and Anthony My older brother, Jose, he is a man. He has 16 years and he has been a chambelan. Two times. The first time he was the escort for this very pretty girl who…
By: A. J. Carey Heart thumping, feet pounding, and muscles burning. Atalanta breathes in the cold, fresh air, and all other thoughts leave her mind as she focuses only on one thing; the finish line. To outsiders, she is a…
By: Charlie Dickinson Alroy left Olivia’s, went home, and didn’t know what to do. With one gesture, her hand on his back, and her words he should visit her in Dallas, she had promised him the keys to the Golden…
By: Bruce Levine Every government, large or small, foreign, or domestic; every university or school district, urban, suburban, or rural; every business, corporation or mom-&-pop have one thing in common – departments. Defense, transportation, or social services; theatre, science, or…
By: Audrey Lauryn Clara: Lifeless entities mill around Callum Square. A group of initiates drape crimson fabric from various light posts. Others sweep the pristine cobblestone streets. Finn and I hunker down under the shade of a Sycamore tree and…
By: Don I ran into Chicago Union Station about 10 minutes before my train was set to depart for St. Louis. I’d overslept. Two months into retirement, I still hadn’t gotten into a new sleep rhythm. I was one of…
By: Flora Jardine It’s a common fairy-tale theme — imprisonment in a tower — and a common true-life tale of city life today, a dark one and Tom was living it, although he didn’t think of it in literary terms…
By: Elaine Lennon Leonard Higgins was an honest man. Modest, middle-aged, unassuming, non-descript. A quiet kind of a man. A man who operated at a very low velocity. The kind of man you’d never notice. A family man. His wife…
By Dawn DeBraal Kennedy Hyde sat across the table from her boyfriend, Sam Colbert. They’d been dating for eight months, and things were going well. “So next week is your birthday.” Sam brought up the subject. “Don’t remind me. I…
By: Bruce Levine Dear Reader,I believe that all life should be lived between forty and sixty. Of course I don’t mean that the human life span should be between forty and sixty, heaven forbid, but that the accompaniment to a…