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…
By: David Patten Daybreak, water the color of slate. A lone figure stands in contemplation, close enough to the river that its current splashes over her boots. This stretch of the Niagara resides in the commonplace, revealing nothing of the…
By: David Patten Amaya can’t suppress a wry smile. An item of gossip has reached her. It seems there are those intent on labeling her a witch. Such an archaic term, unused for centuries, its connotation pejorative. Amaya ponders that…