By: David R. Topper Note: This story is the sequel to Mud: Shtetl to Shoah, published in the Winnipeg Jewish Post & News, September 2023, pp. 34-38. As in Mud, the format is a dialogue between me and my imaginary…

By: Joan Slatoff They should have private waiting areas at this clinic. It’s embarrassing; everyone knows why we’re here.  There’s only the two of us in reception at the moment, me and that girl in the corner chair. I used…

By: Donna Gum Jenkins would have given in to despair long ago, living with his miser of a daughter. Mary Sue wanted him to sign over his wealth, which Jenkins refused. He didn’t know what he would do without Amelia,…

By: Duane L Herrmann     The young man was eager to buy his first house. He had heard that you could get a good deal at a house auction. The house might need work to fix it up, but if…

By: Imran Zarif  Arman stood at the entrance of his childhood home, now worn with time. The walls, once filled with laughter, whispered tales of the past. Everything happens on time, he thought. With time, we evolve, we part our…

By: Marc Livanos It was late January and the air was damp. There was a dusting of snow. The panels on the windows were frosted. The fireplace burned brightly. Audrey and I live in a cul-de-sac of Ficus and evergreens….

By: Bruce Levine Gary Campbell weighed his options. He could stay on the course he’d started at fourteen or now, at twenty-four, shift gears and go in another direction. The problem was, what else could he do?                 He was…

By: Bruce Levine “It’s still cold out,” she said as soon as she returned from walking their dog. “Time to have a talk with Mother Nature.”                 The calendar was nearing April, he agreed, and while the temperature was considered…

By: Stefan Sofiski The grey hour… I wait for her at the square. Behind me is a bronze statue of a priest, hand raised at his invisible congregation. Trams’ iron wheels screech around me. Hers is late. I draw from…

By: Don Leo adjusted a tiny dial on the black frames of his eyeglasses with one hand and tapped a few keys on his laptop with the other.      “Come on,” he pleaded under his breath.  “Work.”      Leo looked…