He rolled out from under the boat and lay on his back. The sun soaked into him. But the fly that had awoken him kept buzzing near his ear. It landed on his face and he brushed it away.
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Tag: relationships
Assumed Position by T.L. Tomljanovic
The seatbelt light clicked on and Tess checked her latch, her eyes flicking to Jake’s lap—unbuckled, of course. He got the aisle seat. She was in the middle. A stranger sat by the window.
The captain crackled on the intercom. “We’re experiencing a bit of turbulence, folks. Please remain seated as we begin our descent.”
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Quality Photos by Steven McBrearty
The summer of our wedding my bride Claudia VanderMeer and I leased a split-level duplex on a dead-end street in a close-in gentrifying area of south central Austin, a quiet, in-transition neighborhood of young families and senior citizens and dogs. The opposite side of the duplex was occupied by the owner/landlord, a white-haired University of Texas professor who we figured was gay. We were fine with him being gay (perhaps we even wanted him to be gay), both for philosophical reasons and as a counterpoint to our conspicuously heterosexual, pre-children, pre-jaded bliss.
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Looker by JJ Graham
He says I look bad on me.
He says it’s not my fault that no one does us any kindnesses since I’ve never done a kindness for someone else, so how should I know how to receive one.
On a computer at the library, he shows me YouTubes of homeless people getting their hair cut.
“It’s not that hard,” he says.
Neither of us needs a haircut, but he says that’s not the point. The point is that it takes commitment.
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Miss Teen Chemainus by Harrison Kim
Richard Stanley opened his mouth at the back of the school bus and told Len “You look like a rat.”
Amy Cooper giggled “Yes, you sure think you’re something Len but you’re ugly did anyone ever tell you that.”
“I know I’m ugly,” said Len, thinking “stay cool,” and noticing Amy’s acne puffed face blotchy against the sunlight that pierced bright through the windows on all the student riders. “I’m the lowest of the low, that’s for sure.”
“Going forward into a new day of learning,” he thought, “They’re telling me their truth, it’s what they do and really it’s what everyone does,” as he squinted his eyes at the the passing cars and stroked his nose “yes, kind of resembling a rodent.”
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My Mom Died Yesterday by Zora Foote
My mom died yesterday. No bull, well maybe a tiny bull, by the time you read this it may have been last week, last month, or last year, but I’m pretty sure she will still be dead. I am not astonished. I am not mollified. I am not even a tad bit sad. By contrast, my German Shepherd died four months ago, and I had to be medicated. Our relationship was not a good one, the one with my mom, not the dog. I loved my dog.
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The Wave by D J Roosh
His wife smiles as she looks over at him, slipping her hand over top of his. They sit in rented beach chairs not far from where their three small children are playing in the sand. Digging up ‘rivers’ for the sea to flow into and filter out of. Sand castles that are hastily built and quickly moved on from. Splashes in the cool surf washing far enough inland to get their ankles wet.
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Fractured by Lisa Lahey
I sat in Clarice’s office every week. My bedroom closet was bigger. A black leather couch with holes in it took up half the room. White stuffing like cottage cheese spilled out of it. Her pine desk overflowed with files. Clarice had more books on her wall than a library. They were in boxes on the floor. All that knowledge. Nowhere to put it.
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Initiation by Fiver
Okay. I’m being serious now. Not that I haven’t been serious all along. But this I gotta say. If there’s anything…anything at all that’s important to me, it concerns this matter—this matter of the heart.
So…
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