“Murder for Beginners” by Kathleen McElligott
The red brick bungalow on the South Side of Chicago was exactly as I remembered: blue-and-white tile in the kitchen, white metal cabinets, gray-and-pink ceramic in the bathroom . . .
Category: Original Fiction
“A Drover’s Birthday” by Benjamin L. Clark
Cattle used to walk to market. After roundup, we’d trail them to a railhead, get them sold, loaded on trains, and shipped back east. Coming out on the train with the cattle was for young hands, the ones Boss could trust. So much has changed. We loaded onto diesel trucks this year and chauffeured cattle to market . . .
“Tamarind Mouth Comes Home” by Portia Subran
The rain stops now and I shake my head to fling the last drop off my big straw hat. It have a freezing trickle of water running down my arm, a silver ball escaping down to the tip of my finger. Forest rain does be like that: cold in the humidity, shining like hell when the light touch it . . .
“Button, Button” by Jessie Williams Burns
Assistant Pre-school maven cupped a hand around her mouth and stage whispered into the hood of my parka . . .
“One A.M., Grace Tuxedo Park” by Jim Naremore
The Del Coronado is a stupid name for a bar in Indianapolis. Especially in Grace Tuxedo Park. Especially in March . . .
“The Graveyard Shift” by Tom Leins
The grave is waist-deep when the cramps start . . .
“The Saapin’s Spell” by Vashti Bowlah
It was hard to resist the lure of Miss Chantal. Her silky-smooth waist-length hair was as dark as her haunting round eyes, set a little too far apart in her heart-shaped face . . .
“JR and Tattoos” by Kimisha Thompson-Hitchins
JR often watched TV with Grandma—either he would watch his cartoon or educational programs, or she would watch HGTV or a tattoo competition series . . .