“Bored in Brementown” by Vashti Anderson
Brown and mustard. I stared at the painted mushrooms on the wall, the same way I did every day. In the eighties, Brementown was living in seventies colors. Brown and mustard . . .
Category: Original Fiction
“Lobo” by Richard Georges
Gus sipped lemongrass tea from a foam cup. It was still dark. His secondhand truck idled outside the market as four men clambered into its tray. This was where he picked up workers for the day—mostly men who came to the island at night in quiet boats. The men clutched grease-stained paper bags and chattered loudly between bites of johnnycakes and various patties. Four men got into the truck’s tray. Gus was expecting five . . .
“JR and His Shadow” by Kimisha Thompson-Hitchins
While walking to the playground one afternoon, JR practiced his road safety by stopping at every stop sign he saw. He would chime, “Red says stop,” while he looked left, then right, and a second continue, “Green means go.” And so JR went through the neighborhood obeying the stop signs and exploring each drain . . .
“Dark Carnival” by Suzanne LaBerge
Angie made Ed jealous, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. She loved to drink and flirt. Drugs too, if somebody else was buying. But after Katrina it was different. Most of the bars were closed, most of the men gone to Baton Rouge, Houston, who knew where . . .
“A Job Down in Danville” by Sean Hooks
There’s someone dying on the side of the highway tonight because my daddy taught me how to walk quiet and how to use a peacemaker . . .
“Walk Away?” by Carol Robbins
If Rudolf Dreikurs had not died in 1972, I might be in prison today . . .
“Where Harry Met Sally” by Bruce Harris
Big Lew’s ample hips flopped over the sides of the wooden chair. The lunch crowd hadn’t yet begun to stream in . . .
“Bar in Hollywood” by Brandon Dutton
“Aren’t you hot in that?” She gestured at my sport coat. . . .