Most read stories

Nut Breakers Hill

13621362 views22 comments11 fav

they flew down the slopes with her holding on for all she was worth

Bait Shop

13621362 views1111 comments1010 favs

They wanted to go fresh water fishing, so I had to buy worms. None there in the saltwater town. Drove about 10 miles over the long bridge to cross the bay. I'd been there before. Walked in and a crusty, little skinny man got up from his chair. He: Watcha need? Me: Fresh…

Cocoa Instead

13621362 views33 comments11 fav

While waiting for the water to boil she formulated an excuse that the Saitos would be forced to accept as to why she must drop Isuko as a student. Suddenly the kettle sung out like a soprano, desperate to be silenced.

Otillie

13621362 views66 comments55 favs

Shhh. I am here. Otillie Augustine, from Trieste, an Italian city to you, but when I lived it was part of Austria. Such things as who flies their flags over a city? Not so important after all, after all the losses and the victory speeches. These were not…

Friends

13621362 views33 comments33 favs

I reach out and grab a can of soup with each hand and spin them around to dive into this much-heralded sodium situation. It's a landslide. I almost smile as I put low sodium back and continue to hold tightly onto regular.

Two More Pennies Towards the Proper Procedure of the Pudding, If You Please

13621362 views88 comments77 favs

I always thought I would feel your hand, always, Lay with you as we flew higher together, laugh with You in the little spaces left between certain trees, like tiny blue flowers that only appear suddenly, made secretly Of…

Luminous Nights, 8

13621362 views22 comments00 favs

Overnight Robbie had lost his youth. But since he was still only nine and his arm looked like a nine-year-old's arm, people didn't notice much at first, until he tried running. Or if he was introduced, and they went to shake his hand. He immediately lea

Arcana Magi Zero + Pure - c.11

13621362 views00 comments00 favs

Ayane took another look of the area and it was large warehouse. A loud thud vibrated outside.

The Book Bindery

13611361 views22 comments11 fav

In a mad tipsy leap you came up short and hard on the chipped stone counter Bruised and blue below the seams against the inside of your thigh. Your grand jeté a little too low, left you on the black floorboards Wincing in…

Uniquer Than Thou

13611361 views99 comments77 favs

brilliant green eyes

The Whole Deal with the 'Willamette's Weak-Links'

13611361 views11 comment00 favs

[My baloney has a first name: it's Oh, Ess, Cee, Ay -- shit! I forget the rest! Can we start over?]

She Frog

13611361 views33 comments44 favs

She had a face like a frog: wide mouth, prominent eyes – and when she touched him, her fingers felt clammy on his skin.

The Cactus

13611361 views22 comments00 favs

Each evening the man allowed himself an hour of fresh air. He and Prickles would situate themselves on the tiny balcony overlooking the same street, a blanket bundled around them both for warmth. These were the times he liked to talk to Prickles the most

What a Monster I Would Have Become Had I Gone Through Life Unimpeded

13611361 views1313 comments77 favs

the title of this poem

Five Million Yen: Chapter 40

13611361 views22 comments11 fav

Ben was dreaming of sex with Claudia. But, in his dream, he could hear Dan Arris calling his name and pounding on a door. The fear of Dan Arris was pushing out the delights of Claudia.

Question

13611361 views99 comments1010 favs

When the dark shadows of his limp eyes told us life was slowly seeping away, stolen by his stroke, his wife signed the “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” order and, tearfully leaving the room, she turns, asking a final question, “Think a needy family could use his…

Picnic Jugs

13611361 views99 comments55 favs

The car was a two-tone black and white Chevy...

on the shore on the shore

13611361 views44 comments00 favs

I await, here at Sandymount Strand / There's a stony bed and moistened sand / Couples dance away into futurity / With their dogs upon the shore

The Cost of Love

13611361 views66 comments22 favs

I was, so I was told, the product of much hard work and a lot of invasive procedures. Initially, I'm sure my parents were making love, but then came the slog, the repeated failed attempts at getting one of mother's millions of eggs fertilized. Those tadpoles just couldn't…

//i look beneath your skin:

13611361 views66 comments44 favs

x ≥ ponds rise beyond where you & i have stood

Peanut Time

13611361 views66 comments22 favs

A peanut, who knoweth

Firefly

13611361 views22 comments11 fav

Smiling at stones and chunks of earth pounding in...

The Fourth Prague Defenestration: 10

13611361 views33 comments44 favs

But the restaurants put pig in every little dish. You couldn't eat there without encountering some portion of pig. It was in everything, including the cabbage. Who puts pig in the cabbage? I'm asking you. And in the dumplings too. For God's sake, give it

A Thousand Miles Away

13611361 views22 comments11 fav

In the house by a kidney-shaped lake, her grandfather was speaking to a stranger about a foreign war that had never ended, had spread close to home.

The Difference Between Men and Women

13611361 views00 comments00 favs

When sixth-grade science teacher Pat Farrell assigns an earth-science lab on measuring crystals, the girls collect their materials, read the directions and follow the sequence from beginning to end. The first thing boys do is ask, “Can we eat this?"

Red and Lavendar Silk

13611361 views55 comments44 favs

Swatches of Chinese silk in vivid red and lavender fly through the air. My granddaughter in her mid-thirties reaches for the cloth. I see in her mirror a shape forming; a slim, gray haired woman with a spring in her step. I pause to admire my reflection and pass over the…

1962, What I wanted

13611361 views88 comments55 favs

1962, What I wanted was a Levittowner rancher like my best friend had,

Hey Hey It's Okay

13611361 views00 comments00 favs

Over by the swimming pool singing - Hey hey it’s okay - A line from a song he heard - On the stereo when we were driving in the car - On the way to sign the papers to get - His grandfather released from the hospital

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 22

13601360 views88 comments55 favs

Elaine and Francesco exited the taxi in front of Elaine Aster Gallery.

I Wish This Was Fiction

13601360 views44 comments22 favs

The convalescent home's common areas are surprisingly well-appointed, given the neighborhood, which makes his actual living quarters that much more dismaying. Poorly lit, dusty, stifling, the room reeks of socks worn for weeks on end. My nostrils burn, and my eyes…