Flash Fiction
Hope
Dawn came upon the Eastern Shore of Virginia when the farmers were already working. The tomatoes were staked and tied, heavy with fruit, ready for picking. The corn fields were tall and green, and long irrigators stretched across the square … Continue reading
Aphrodite Carries Condoms
“This book is intended to provide intelligent girls with a scientific account of sex and human reproduction and to have the whole subject set in its proper relation to the rest of life.” ATTAINING WOMANHOOD: A Doctor Talks to Girls … Continue reading
Jigsaw
They arrive late to the scene, the oily smoke from the damaged vehicles diminishing to a slow pulse, soldiers going from alert attention to disinterest, then to the rooftops of the surrounding dun buildings and finally to bitter indifference, weapons … Continue reading
Coconut for Bait
June Spoon, my mother, gets mad whenever Dadio swings at flies with rolled-up newspapers. Sometimes he swings at roaches. He doesn’t seem to care that someone might still want to check out the news. I hate it when he uses … Continue reading
Punishment, Inc.
It wasn’t that she hated her husband; she just wanted something bad to happen to him. Nothing too drastic or heart-wrenching. For example, she didn’t want his new Harley Davidson to flip off the highway and impale him with its … Continue reading
Flight
The night lightened to blue through the open tent flap, the humidity pressing close. No one had slept, but the show needed a new trick rider so Toby stood in the middle of the ring, sand on his boots, as … Continue reading
The Cribbing Collar
Click to hear Nick Ripatrazone read “The Cribbing Collar” Boone came home from Fort Bragg with tattoos, and a girl named Sara. Her short blonde hair was tucked behind her ears. Long, thin earrings trailed to her collarbone. Boone pulled … Continue reading
Corner to corner, end to end
I walk across this street exactly thirty-four times a day, dodging a dozen Brougham carriages, curricles, and Runabouts, carrying exactly twenty-two duffels of linens, thirteen wooden slat-crates of pewter dinnerware, and well over a hundred odd articles in need of … Continue reading
Pigs
This little piggy went to market, This little piggy stayed home, This little piggy had roast beef, This little piggy had none. And this little piggy went ‘Wee, wee, wee!’ all the way home. The first pig went to market … Continue reading