By: Bernice Groves        “Another one. You made it,” a voice says. “Tough journey?”        The boxcar rocks. A dozen shadowed bodies rock with it. Outside, the horizon lights up like winking Christmas lights. The train is a dying snake…

By Bennie Rosa Frank Stanley sat comfortably in his high-back wicker chair on the patio of his condo overlooking the Hackensack River. He could hear the Steins next door arguing with their teenage son. The wind was picking up and…

By: Bruce Levine The rain had lasted for three days and the streets looked more like a river than pavement. Walking his dog became more of an effort each time as the torrents of water washed against them and the…

By Gaither Stewart                                            1. At thirty-six years I’m on record as the youngest Operations Director in the history of the international cultural organization where I’ve worked for the last nine years. Now as my best friends know, I’m not…

By Chris Keyser There was no time for basking in it.  Perks Cafe couldn’t endure Ken Stagman for long before oscillating into hysteria.  And he knew it.  They knew it too.  A single iphone camera’s shutter flash would dash the…

By Sandra Ding During most daily commutes, one only sees strangers and doesn’t look closely. On an early evening in October, while the city dwelled in a soft, yellow haze, amid the bustle of the streets filled with the shuttling…

By: E.R. LeVar An old bonnet of hers still rests on a hook on the wall, long blue ribbons trailing down to the floor. A well-worn shawl drapes over the back of the chair, holes in the knitting letting the…

By Kristen Henderson      Carlos discovered an open box of D-con rat poison under a pile of shoes in the back of his grandmother’s closet.  He’d been called home from ‘Nam after his grandmother was found dead, rigid, straight as…

By: Francine Witte “So, let’s review,” says Man 1 “Right,” says Man 2, “we kill her at noon.” They lean over the high lip of the bridge rail. Straight down to the blue of the stream. “Not kill,” says Man…

By: Francine Witte There is suddenly no weather. Rain dries up before it falls and wind is all puffed out. “It’s a show of respect,” the anchor man says, and his lovely co-host agrees. The sun is gone, too, leaving…