Fiction

Recoil 

After my father’s disk sander had whirred to halt, he turned to me and gestured majestically. “Matthew, the work is always the best pay.”

His Own Time 

I did a little time once. It wasn’t a long bit, but that doesn’t matter much.  Time is time.

Home Depot

You know how it is. You think you’re married, you’re married to Albie forty-two, what is it, forty-three years, so at least you know Albie. Right?

The Wedding Photographer’s Assistant

“Dina,” she said, “you’re the least romantic person I know.  For you to be a wedding photographer is too hilarious to pass up.”

Cousin Esther Goes to Chicago 

All that time I’ve been working here, mopping the floors, emptying the trash, washing down rooms, and watching the wet-behind-the-ears young pup doctors learn their business.

issue 38 2020 Prize Winners
Rivers

Aunt #1’s plastic toilet lid shifts under Manolo’s weight as he balances his left ankle on his right knee, careful so his leg doesn’t slide off his sweatpants.

The Father of Joan of Arc

Two months after the loss of my only child, whose death—for which I am responsible—came in an unspeakable manner, I stand in line at the gas station, waiting to pay for my gas.

You’re Home Now

Earl was always chasing pussy when he was alive, so it was no big surprise when he came back as a weiner dog.

In Lieu of a Better Plan

One otherwise pleasant evening at the asylum, I—a known murderess and recently declared Vice President of Ward G—escape through a partially opened, third-story window.