As we drove up to Minna and Granddaddy’s house in Bedford, New York, our car crunching on deep gravel, I spotted my grandmother, Minna, motioning to us just outside the majestic front door. One hand gripped the cast-iron railing above the cement front steps; the other waved us into the house. My grandparents’ enormous Georgian... Continue Reading →
Marty scheduled his announcement for 10:00 AM on a Monday, and the Friday before he pinned a notice with the date, time and place on the bulletin board across from the condominium elevator. He spent the weekend crafting what he would say about Deborah wanting a divorce, and the whole time he was word-smithing, he... Continue Reading →
Velu had seen enough Hollywood romcoms and TV sitcoms to know exactly what it meant when an attractive woman lingered at her doorway and asked a man to come up for coffee. The perilous possibilities behind such an invitation were not lost on him. But as a twenty-nine-year-old virgin from a traditional Hindu family who... Continue Reading →
written By I remember the soft pressure of Kim’s hand on mine, how she stood so upright, her petite frame sinuously curved, her brown, alert eyes meeting mine for the first time, acknowledging. She and her husband, Justin, were out doing lawn work that early spring day. They were my elderly mother’s new neighbors in... Continue Reading →
I’m lagging. I’m supposed to be with a group of little kids on a walk down to the river, but I don’t want to go. It’s a walk they always send us on when we come to the 4-H camp for one of the Iowa Quaker gatherings. An older cousin, Nancy, is leading the group... Continue Reading →
The paper looked and felt real, but the words on the ballot seemed anything but. Was Jake really going to vote for scrapping the oldest and most widely known constitution in the world? On his way into the voting precinct, he’d been called “asshole lawyer,” “democratic terrorist,” and “constitution killer.” Perhaps he’d taken things too... Continue Reading →
“I’m not going to their house,” Chloe said. “I don’t want to see them.” “But they’re your grandparents, sweetie,” Mama said, looking up from the okra she was slicing into little pieces. Chloe stood by the sink, facing her mother. Her hair was styled in a pixie cut, and she was wearing overalls and low-cut... Continue Reading →
A short story by Harold Whit Williams.
I didn't want to call it daycare for the adults. First of all because it was at night and misnomers really ruffle my feathers. And second because it sounds childish, which it isn't. I settled on coaching. Reasonable adults get coaching for all kinds of things: relationships, jobs, workouts. And...
The resolve to live in the woods with only the two dogs for company had been building unexamined a long time. He had picked up the germ of the idea when a boy. Back then, he had come to look at trees as the principal emblem of a hokey folk mythology
