Gabrielle McAree

Gabrielle McAree is from Fishers, IN. Her work appears in Berkeley Fiction Review, Reflex Press, X-R-A-Y, Reckon Review, and elsewhere. She’s on Twitter @gmcaree_.

CAROLINE EATS HER FEELINGS by Gabrielle McAree

November 5, 2021 · Fiction

I half-expect Chris to be draped in an American flag like a patriotic version of Jesus. Since enlisting, he’s all pro-war now, existing in a blind state of sacrosanctity. He shits red, white, and blue, and has Uncle Sam on speed dial. They grab beers together, talk sports. Bald and uniformed, no one would know that just last week Chris lit illegal fireworks off his parent’s pontoon and drank vodka tonics before noon. That he suffocated lizards and shot small dogs with bb-guns, gratified a Wendy’s. Growing up, his parents thought he was going to be a serial killer, not…

x-r-a-y magazine

THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER by Gabrielle McAree

April 22, 2021 · Fiction

Dad has the emotional range of a runt-sized peanut. He hates the internet, roundabouts, tap water, trash collection, anyone called “Jerry.” He doesn’t trust directions and believes the government is listening in on his conversations. Dad grows a four-inch beard as an act of defiance, because it looks nothing like his driver’s license picture, and swears off technology. His collection of gray hair disappoints him, so he buys an electric blue Camaro. *** When Dad turns 63, I pick up a cake from the store. Half chocolate, half vanilla to curb his untreated bipolar disorder. I remember to be vigilant,…

x-r-a-y magazine