By: E.R. LeVar Ruby ran a clump of Caroline’s pale hair through her hands, feeling for the knots and mats before taking a brush to it. She was gentle, as gentle as could be.  “Ow!” “Sorry. Your hair’s too knotty….

By: Thomas Fitzgerald McCarthy A heavy fog cloaked most of Verdando Mountain in the winter. From a distance, it was thick and glassy, and the few houses in the valley below looked like little more than particles of residue trapped…

By: Jim Bates Early in June that summer I took two weeks off work and my friend Bobby and I hitched-hiked to Denver to a concert at Mile High Stadium. We saw Jimi Hendrix and had an unforgettable time. It…

By: Benjamin Ashton An aroma of brown sugar and ground beef lingered in the kitchen as it had every Meat Loaf Monday in recent memory. Jill, slightly up on her toes, was rinsing dishes to be placed in the dishwasher….

By: Mitchel Montagna O’Casey had Buffalo Springfield’s Retrospective on eight-track. The song “Bluebird” ran for fourteen and a half minutes, long enough so that it skipped from track to track. In the middle of an extensive guitar jam, the music…

By: Steve Carr See the boy sitting in the pew across the aisle? He’s no older than six. Being dressed in a black suit that is two sizes too large for his small frame does nothing to quell his energy….

By: Nadia Benjelloun Kneeling on my knees, my cheeks boiling red from the discomfort of the heat, and with sweat trickling down my back, I put on the finishing touches to the Lego house. When I finish, I stand up…

By Brigitte Whiting Saturday mornings, Eve and Jim shopped for houses. They’d driven since early morning following the map she’d marked with sticky tabs. Each had been a no, again. Some were too perfect, uninviting. Others, plain, functional as they…

By: Bob Kalkreuter It was almost midnight when they drove through town. The wet asphalt glistened red, then green in the moonless wash of the traffic light. Above, rain-swollen clouds roiled and grumbled like an upset stomach. Paul drove while…

By: Eric Burbridge She excused herself from a boring conversation with Percy. Nature called. Would she return? No. Did she care how he felt? No. For several weeks, she stalked the man of her dreams at Carmen’s Place city employees…