Lyssum presses her fingers into her forehead, tries to push back the frown lines she can feel gathered like pleats behind her black round glasses. She scowls at the mail, grimaces at the news on her phone. E-mail is worse, except for a funny note from her sister in Atlanta. Catches herself, I’m the woman fed up with everything, she thinks. She drops her packages on the kitchen counter, a large garlic bulb rolls toward the sink; the green sheaf of parsley peeks damply from a sack. Lyssum sees herself reflected in the window: black hair pulled back severely and restrained with bands and clips, long dark clothes in layers set off by silver earrings and a pin. I look like a nun she thinks and pulls things loose so she can breathe.
Continue reading “Remainders, Reminders by Bruce D Snyder”Category: All Stories
Sunday Whoever
Jane Houghton has been with the site for a long time now. Her work is always a delight and beautifully written. If you haven’t seen any of her stuff up to now just type her name into the search field and anything you choose will be a treat. her first piece – Walk on By will lead you to others in her catalogue.
Continue reading “Sunday Whoever”Also Henry by Tom Sheehan
Jim Hedgerow was the boss of Riverbank Cemetery’s burial crew, and this morning he was scratching to make sure he had enough help to “open up” a few places for “quick deposit.” At 7:30 the sun had jumped overhead, birds had their choirs in practice, and he had seen hard evidence of overnight guests in among the trees and full foliage at the edge of the cemetery along Fiske Brook.
Continue reading “Also Henry by Tom Sheehan”Reflection by Mason Yates
—other news, after multiple years of delay, a final date is set for the first manned mission to Mars. This October, seven astronauts will embark to the distant red planet in a great scientific journey, a monumental achievement to welcome society’s next great leap forward. A better era—
Continue reading “Reflection by Mason Yates”The Night the River Sang by Claire Massey
Prelude: Native American legend has it that the Pascagoula tribe preferred death by drowning to lives of enslavement by their enemies. According to one “mist of time” story, men, women, and children were heard chanting to their ancestors while walking en masse into this Mississippi coastal river. Receptive listeners, recreating on these waters, have long reported phantom music. In 1985, historians successfully lobbied for a name change, from the Pascagoula to the Singing River.
Continue reading “The Night the River Sang by Claire Massey”Sunday Whoever
Okay, strap in. Today is the turn of our beloved editor. Hugh Cron. Hugh is a founder member of the site and has worked incredibly hard over the years keeping it together in spite of personal and professional challenges. His Saturday posts are legendary and his cannon of writing extensive and diverse. So, who is Hugh:
Continue reading “Sunday Whoever”WEEK 448- Bulking Up; Another Fine Week; Annoying TV Characters

Now that it is officially autumn, Andy and Alfie the Feral Cats are bulking up for winter. Well, actually only Andy, because Alfie is already beefy as it is. He’s a rarity, a Feral Cat who has a double chin. Andy, however, changes his body type with the season. During the warm months he sheds his long coat and becomes lean and ripples with muscles. Come September he begins eating twice his normal amount and by the time November rolls around he looks like a fuzzy Tapir.
Continue reading “WEEK 448- Bulking Up; Another Fine Week; Annoying TV Characters”Corbin Harrows Moroccan Rug by Reese Alexander
I am bleeding out on Corbin Harrow’s million-dollar, Moroccan, cream-colored rug because he raped a child in 1983. The blood rushing out of the hole just above my right hip-bone runs down my leg and pools at the rug’s edge. The spirit of my mother suddenly possesses me then, and I turn my head to Corbin, frozen only feet from me—still holding the fire poker he’s just pulled out of my side—to tell him that if he acts now, he can still get the stain out. After all, it’s only on one corner.
Continue reading “Corbin Harrows Moroccan Rug by Reese Alexander”The Shrew’s Tale by Simon Nadel
Adam likes to trade celebrities. He says it makes him feel a little better after someone he particularly revered has died.
Continue reading “The Shrew’s Tale by Simon Nadel”I Can See Clearly Now by Frederick K Foote
When I was six or seven and attending a segregated Black school in Virginia, I had a crush on the smartest girl in our class. Gloria was not only smart but cute and friendly to everyone.
Continue reading “I Can See Clearly Now by Frederick K Foote”
