Flash Fiction
Wartime Tango
Mine would be just another story about a menopausal woman leaving a thirty-year marriage to an orthopedic surgeon for her tango teacher, except that I’m a surgical nurse, joined the US Army, and ended up in wartime Iraq. I’ve almost … Continue reading
Conjugation
In their first conjugal visit, Ray couldn’t perform, so they talked. The trailer had no windows and one door from which the lock mechanism had been removed, the hole stuffed with a rust-colored rag. On the dresser beside the bed … Continue reading
From Angola to KFC
The Spirits at Nzinga’s Feet Twilight settles along the coast of Angola, where Nzinga has been placed at water’s edge. A village, home for all her thirteen years, lies behind – she can sense its dying fires flickering against her … Continue reading
Lady with Violets
Thick Russian night is shifting, sighing underneath the windows, asking to be let inside. She’s sad to be all by herself on the streets, lonely. You can’t see anything through the windows – they are covered with ice, dusted with … Continue reading
A Postcard for Regina
Oriole Street curled back from Light Avenue, rose and twisted, fell, twisted again, and ended at the edge of weeds, an old grape arbor, and a ramble of wild roses. Regina lived at the end of the Oriole Street in … Continue reading
As Dawn Brightens
Morning was still gray with fog when the boy walked down to the harbor. A bigger boy had taken his favorite sleeping spot last night and he had not slept well, so he started this day early. He passed the … Continue reading
Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail
[audio:http://shenandoahliterary.org/612/files/2011/08/Three-Scenarios-Luce.mp3|titles=Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail] I. It is her thirtieth birthday. She wakes alone. Her right hand reaches around to feel a soft length of hair that wasn’t there when she took her bath the night … Continue reading
Vindaloo
Hank Teraoka looked around the Middle Eastern restaurant filled with the smells of curry. He felt uncomfortable in the dark room, sitting next to the curtained window and fingering the one-page plastic menu. He couldn’t … Continue reading
Love, Creusa
[audio:http://shenandoahliterary.org/612/files/2011/08/AminaGautierRecording3.mp3|titles=Love, Creusa by Amina Gautier] The hardest part is the telling. Courtesy makes him tell you his story. Good favor is hard to come by; he cannot risk enemies. Seated before your guests, cloaked in homage that is your due, … Continue reading