Tag: Romance

All Stories, General Fiction

Quality Photos by Steven McBrearty

literallystories2014

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.  

Continue reading “Quality Photos by Steven McBrearty” →
Short Fiction

Miss Teen Chemainus by Harrison Kim

literallystories2014

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.”

Continue reading “Miss Teen Chemainus by Harrison Kim” →
All Stories, Romance

Hungarian Rain by Malaya Downey 

literallystories2014

Ivy swallows the enclosing wall of the Gellert Hegy while the rest of Buda is covered in clouds, the shade of gray that indicates a storm is coming. Across the Danube, in Pest, it is dry; soft blue skies. Nineteenth-century granite makes pointy party hats on each turret of the Halászbástyas fortress neighboring the Buda Castle. From the inside; a sweeping view of the Gothic city. Fall in love with the city from here, or fall in love in the city. Few places can charm quite like Budapest. When you cross the Erzsébet híd bridge back into Pest, you will leave behind much of the Art Nouveau, the mystical round shapes in each building, teals and seashells, underwater castles. But Pest will greet you with an endearing historicism. Cupola-topped Roman Catholic Basilicas, the neoclassical opera house, and north, the daunting Parliament Building: thin, tall, pillars stabbing the clouds with their sharp tips.

Continue reading “Hungarian Rain by Malaya Downey “ →
All Stories, General Fiction

Overtime by Karen Uttien

literallystories2014

Saturday, 6.10pm

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Liam muttered, pulling into the petrol station.

Ten minutes earlier

‘Please.  Please,’ the girl begged. 

Against his better judgement, Liam tapped the address into google, and took the cash. 

‘Thank-you soooo much!’ she said, helping her inebriated friend into the car, before skipping back to the busy beer-garden.

‘You okay?’ Liam asked, watching his young passenger’s head wobble in the rear-view mirror.

In her defence – she did try to open the window.  But the rainbow projectile flew with such force, it wouldn’t have made any difference.

Continue reading “Overtime by Karen Uttien” →
All Stories, General Fiction

Out of His League by Gerald Coleman

literallystories2014

“Love is a zero-sum game. Pretty much.”
– Billy Olsen

When Billy Olsen first saw her, he behaved oddly, like a Cubist painting tumbling down a staircase. 

It was Tuesday evening. The Parrot Lounge’s sole décor statement was a stuffed parrot in a cage hanging from the ceiling below a light bulb in cigarette smoke. It was not the place to take a date nor find a snug corner to brood in—too much light, too loud, substandard bar food, and flat pitchers of beer.

Continue reading “Out of His League by Gerald Coleman” →
All Stories, General Fiction

Dry by Christopher W. Hall

literallystories2014

I’m parked on her street in front of the house. Hesitating. It’s just my third day back. What will Francesca do? I might have waited even longer if it weren’t for the thought of her sister, Lisa, who always greeted me with a hug and a smile.

Continue reading “Dry by Christopher W. Hall” →
All Stories, General Fiction

Searching for Unicorns by Michael Bloor

literallystories2014

Willie Ferguson lay staring at the wee cracks in his bedroom ceiling.  Like a lot of people, he hadn’t realised, til he stopped working, that he was missing something. It sure as hell wasn’t the job that he missed: he’d collected his pension with a sigh of relief. It wasn’t family either: his sister, Margaret, living behind a privet hedge down in England, was emphatically a distant relative, and should ever remain so. But Willie knew he really was missing something.

Continue reading “Searching for Unicorns by Michael Bloor” →
All Stories, General Fiction

I Tried to Eat an Apple by Billie Chang

literallystories2014

I tried to eat an apple whole the other day. I spit it up on the tile, watching as my saliva bubbled atop the cracked checkers. Vince and I laughed hard at this: my attempt, the fall, the wet sound of bruised apple flesh. We stopped only after Vince sat on the wicker chair so hard it splintered. I put a blanket over it and Vince biked home, using his jacket sleeve to gather my spit-stained apple and throw it outside – for the squirrels, he said. Three days later, Mom took the blanket to wash and when she screamed, I told her that Hurricane Nancy must’ve done it. Mom said that wasn’t funny; last month’s hurricane had taken Grandpa’s beloved chicken coop and now he had to buy the factory-farmed eggs they sold at the grocery. I said, “Wow, what an inconvenience!” and was grounded for a week.

Continue reading “I Tried to Eat an Apple by Billie Chang” →
All Stories, General Fiction

It’s Never Too Late by Tim Love

literallystories2014

With most first dates, I knew within seconds that we wouldn’t meet again. I didn’t feel that with Janet. Except for a few wrinkles, she could have been years younger than me. Maybe her eyes were too far apart and her mouth too narrow, but when she smiled all her features worked together. That said, getting her to smile was a challenge. We exchanged questions about each other, learning nothing more than in our online profiles. I couldn’t help studying her again as she walked to the toilet – her bright floral dress showed off her figure (was she rolling her hips?)  and her long hair was jet-black. Waiting for her to come back, I decided to raise the topic that the dating site matched us up with.

Continue reading “It’s Never Too Late by Tim Love” →
General Fiction, Short Fiction

The Bicycle Man of Carlin Hill by Harrison Kim

literallystories2014

.

Shig Sagimoto appears to me in one short image, a slim, fedora hatted old fellow on a bicycle coasting down Carlin Hill, both hands on the handlebars.  As I observe him, he raises one arm upright into the blue sky of summer, then holds down the top of his hat, and for a few slight seconds, raises high his other hand, and balances as his bike wheels fly downhill through the hot afternoon air.  Then, he sees I’m watching.  Both hands press back to the handlebars, and he moves his head down as he pedals into the Tappen Esso parking lot.

Continue reading “The Bicycle Man of Carlin Hill by Harrison Kim” →