THE ENTIRE LAME HISTORY OF THE CHICAGO SHINERS by Sam Berman
God shares my taller daughter’s name now. Which is Hope. I say it five times when she covers the inbound. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope.
SELENA GOMEZ WALKS INTO A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL PORTAL AT THE REST STOP IN DUBLIN, GA by Stephen Meisel
And says a warrior’s prayer as the mahogany bear carvings come alive. She understands the will of the Valkyrie as the will of the H bomb.
JOHN LEAVES HIS HOME by Alex Juffer
John tracked their interactions and gauged the hierarchy. A redhead with no shirt and a flashbang sunburn ordered the youngest ones around. They worked in shifts now.
BLADE OF GRASS by Mason Koa
Almost breathlessly, he raved to me that he had done it: He had separated himself from nature once and for all. I pointed out that we ate from nature before a light flickered in his eyes and I cupped my hand over my mouth.
THE SECRET TO A LONG LIFE by Kevin Grauke
Scientists have theories about why this happens, but I’ve got one of my own: our brain wants us to remember our horrible moments most clearly.
JOHN JACOBS by Conor Truax
To the conscious Cartwrights, the deer warnings were novelties. The yellow on the signs was not invented. The deer recognized it as the sun.
THE STAGE NAME by James Tadd Adcox
Just as the first wife had found the stage name pretentious and comical, the second experienced the real name as uncanny, unnatural.
WORK by Andy Tran
The Algebra II teacher stood up with his hands full of frozen peas. “I don’t know what to say. But thank you,” he said. A pea dropped from his hand. Tess moaned.
THE LUCKY ONE by Pamela Painter
She walks with purpose over to a gangly tree and dumps our mother’s ashes at its base, then smears them around with the toe of her purple sneaker. Then she turns to face me as if to see if I’m going to object.
MY FRIEND LOUISE… by Susannah Felts
Amber beads, electric blue billowing, jasmine. Here comes Louise, here she comes, into the kitchen.