Big Dusty

Big Dusty

To Russell, always called ‘Dusty’ since the day he was born, his father was a big man; not just big but BIG. He had big…

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The Combination Padlock

The Combination Padlock

A man couldn’t remember the combination to a padlock. He didn’t want to break it, so he tried 0000, then 0001. He was prepared to…

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Silver Lining

Silver Lining

Everyone knows people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, you catch more flies with honey, that love makes the world go round.  This…

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The Water

The Water

They sat across from one another at the cheap station café. Trayfuls of tea, carelessly poured into narrow-waisted teacups, hovered around them. They were each…

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A Writer in the Sun

A Writer in the Sun

A verb is a nation. That’s what I’d tell you over coffee. I’d also tell you that writing has its own economy. Supply and demand….

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Friends of Ferry Point Park

Friends of Ferry Point Park

Condolences, the card read and—she flipped it over—nothing else.  Tara Contreras opened the door to her apartment and, without meaning to, thought: Better late than…

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I Know You Rider

I Know You Rider

Ryan and Walker stood in the doorway of the railcar as the train chugged through a crossing in Homerville, Georgia. The town, like many along…

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Chili Man

Chili Man

Once I came across a homeless person in Seattle. He asked for money. I gave him a dollar. He said, “Don’t you have five bucks?”…

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Food Baby

Food Baby

I knew, from the moment I woke up in Akihabara, in that spare white hotel room overlooking the five-story mall full of flashing red robots,…

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An Approximate Accumulation

An Approximate Accumulation

Things were desperate. The editing work had all but dried up. No matter how many writing-related jobs I applied for on the freelancing websites I’d…

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Bridal Palanquin

Bridal Palanquin

Bhaggan had told me many times why Saffiya had been traveling on the train the day they found me. Bibi Saffiya’s husband had died, and…

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Double Date

Double Date

He wasn’t as good looking as the man she’d always hoped to marry, but she recalled her therapist’s unsubtle hints that she shouldn’t wait aimlessly…

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The Sow

The Sow

The old sow glared at Elrod with a sort of benign insolence. It was perhaps the ugliest thing the boy had ever seen. Its skin…

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Fade to Gray

Fade to Gray

I always sat in the chair by the window. That had become “my” spot during committee meetings. From my chair, I could look out the…

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Different Lives

Different Lives

Chris My alarm shrieks. It’s 6:57. Out of bed and into yesterday’s clothes. Dizzy from alcohol and insufficient sleep, I step into the morning under-dressed. …

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Tarla's Homecoming

Tarla’s Homecoming

Nakul sat straight in a vest with two holes in it and old pajamas. He didn’t make eye contact with his wife Tarla who was…

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Dharavi Dreams

Dharavi Dreams

Hi. My name is Abdul. Abdul Sheikh. I work at a cyber café not very far from where I live. But don’t bother. Not very…

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One Fainting Robin

One Fainting Robin

The first time I saw her, my heart stopped. I mean, it really did stop, I died. Me? Who could believe that? I was sixteen…

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Votive Candle

Votive Candle

“Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace camino al andar.” – Antonio Machado One dollar Australian only buys Barb one votive candle, or so goes the…

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So Far

So Far

Shankata­hara Chathurthi: auspicious day dedicated to Ganesha … is observed … on the fourth day of … the waning lunar phase … – Internet Sarasu…

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