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?It Never Ends by Frank Joussen A single red rose in the middle. It?s a nice enough grave. Well, if you like this mixture of dentimeter and clyclamen. But her flowers had already withered. And I planted my red, red rose smack in the middle. It was worth it all. Running away from the old…

I haven?t seen the sun for weeks. Months really. Maybe one day last month. And everybody talked about how beautiful the blue sky was.

Amazed at the sight of the sun. Really?

Guapo by N. Fabal Name?s Guapo, I run the streets around here. From the Sedanos on Palm to the Red White and Blue thrift, from Mango Hill to Milander, from Westland Mall to ?ooo Que Barato!, that?s right I run this shit. The Fat Man, he?s got a different name for me, he calls me…

The Day of the Dead by RLB Hartmann It’s October. The air has grown mild and dry, sere like the skin of an old person, pungent. On a worn bench beneath whispering maples shading the plaza, I watch families. Stubby fathers in work clothes, mothers in bright skirts below their knees, children swarming everywhere. Those…

Step Two by Julia Newman I wish I could sit down right here. Would that be so weird? In the middle of the aisle, right here? All cozy and cross-legged in front the day old cakes, the Pepperidge Farm display, and the peanut butter. Back against the freezer, that nice cool door separating me from…

Turtle Dreams ?by Susan Dickman She inhabited a different universe. Metaphorically stuffed cotton in her ears while others listened to rock, Bach or disco, though remembered vividly the slick plum-colored skirt and wrap her mother had bought for her fifteenth birthday when dancing was again all the rage. But the girls danced with each other,…

The Beating ?by K. Zeth Ozbirn ?He?s still down there,? the guard said as he turned to his sentry, their helmets shining in the faint torchlight. ?How long?s it been?? ?Three days.? They looked down the cold rock wall at the man beating his fists against the large metal doors that lead to the courtyard.?…

Josephine by Fritzroy Austin Sterling   When Josephine strutted into Saturday Morning, the Sky King of both horizons parted the early morning fog and the long, narrow road ahead looked like a never-ending runway. By then, word of her arrival had spread and the grapevine had sprung into full swing.? She had arrived late last…

She was standing in the rain. Unmoving, while the tiny drops spattered her blue dress. I watched her from the window. I wanted to walk out to her, tell her that she was the only thing in the world. No, she was holding me back. My feet were glued to the floor, petrified by the truth. The lights of the cab appeared down the street, her head didn?t move. Her shoes were white with spots of mud from the edge of the sidewalk and bits of grass clung to them desperately.

The neighbors curled beneath their blankets, waited until the rhythm of anger from the flashing lights and thunder?s cursing abated, heard the first cry of an infant. The husband, an albularyo (folk healer) must have cut the umbilical cord and tied it into a knot. The wife exhausted from such strenuous labor, eyes now closed. The day had been unkind to her, the unbearable pain, brim of death.

In a room, a large living room, Duo sat, his head in his hand, blocking his eyes from the rays of a dying sun. Around him, Louis and Clark, the other tenants–cats–played. The cats were mock fighting, oblivious in feline bliss; meanwhile, Duo was breaking down, National Geographic-like, rapidly becoming an endangered specie. His mind it turned out was not impervious to pain, loneliness

The Tortoise and the Hare An Aesop Foible by Stephen Prime   Once upon a time there was a tortoise and a hare. The hare drove a red Ferrari 550 Maranello and was always boasting about how many revs he could get out of it. Although the tortoise and the hare weren?t really friends, they…

No Beauty Hovered Over Me ?by Jim Piper I was texting Maria when I ran splat into a woman in a crosswalk. Saw her a flash by my window, a hunk of fabric flapping. Cars stopped. I stopped. I just sat. A face appeared in my window. ?Trying to text ? ? I muttered. ?Call…