Most read stories

Beatnik Blonde

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everything plus zero stays the same

First Lives

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There are some, I am told, who never see the dead, though I am as yet unable to believe it.

Europe

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On the way over, on the ship, I met a girl from Cleveland.

Wrapping Kevin

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Wrapping Kevin It was his last…

Putting the Fun in Funeral

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The funeral was a blast. One helluva time. We all had the time of our lives. Well, all of us except Dominic. It pissed me off that Dominic didn’t have fun. After all, he was the center of attention. The whole day was about him, and we spared no expense

Going Bananas

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I haven’t made the headlines yet. Maybe I never will. In a city like this, it probably takes more than this to get the helicopters in the air.

ER Chronicles (1)

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Thank christ for feminst theory and fat good natured shrinks and tall men who stand guard over me with real guns, real bullets.

THE LIFE-GIVING DROP by Ivan Turgenev

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The child began to think only of the reason for being there in the cave, summoned up patience and continued to wait...

The Star of David

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Everybody in Amsterdam spoke English, and unlike the French, they didn't pretend that they didn't.

I’m going and I’m never coming back

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“Nag, nag, nag. This time I’m leaving and I’m not coming back.”

Bird In the House

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"Because of the way our society is structured, a lot of people have to climb hard to get to anywhere reasonable in their lives, losing fingernails and a sense of dignity on the way up."

The Cougar

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Johnny puts another whiskey in front of me. Except for him, me, and Petey, the bar's empty. "You hear about that up in Wilmette?" he asks."No, what?" I say."A cougar. People say they saw a cougar.""Bullshit.""No shit. Was in the Sun Times this morning.""Sun Times ain't…

Rattlesnake Pancakes

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I don't usually take bets, / but I took this one.

Sympathy

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“Are you afraid?” he asked. “No,” she said. “I’m thrilled.” “Thrilled?” “Yes, I’m thrilled that something is happening to me. It’s been such a long time since anything has happened. I was getting really bored, but this is great.

My Totally Awesome Funeral

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Construct my eulogy with dialogue snippets culled from old Brat Pack movies and deliver them with a straight face.

Sands In Time by Julie Noble

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Sands In Time by Julie Noble As surreptitious as the crab creeping sideways under your patient observation, the sun has inched its way round the sky, echoing exactly the rugged curve of the Bay, and is now preparing itself for the evening slide. In its rich,…

Barns And Ignobles

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None of us in the barn knew what to do about the lowing cows. Their slowly rising complaint started off as a half-hearted protest but soon gained in volume and unsettling portent.

The agreement

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It felt like he'd just taken his marriage out into the woods, forced it to its knees, and put a bullet through its head. Or they had, together.

Obsidian

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Listen to me, at the end of all things, and I will tell you her story.

Watching Our Reflections on TV While We Wait

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We sat in a row on the long couch and no one's legs could reach the floor. Granddaddy took the first one the kid who no one knew and said to us "the rest of you stay put."

Man On A Balcony In His Bathrobe

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Watering his pansies in their pots with his ridiculous watering can. Sticking his finger in the soil to test the dampness. Obviously nothing on beneath the silk robe. It’s almost fallen loose a dozen times Balding. Maybe in his late forties. S

MAIZE

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Now, these explosions announced, political bribes and propaganda weren't going to be enough to push things through. There would need to be survival from blunt force trauma and fear tactics, a relentless forward march

Automatic Typewriter

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Rowan’s arm burned and throbbed like the center of a neutron star as it went critical for minutes turned inside-out like hours. Standing in a wall, then huddled underneath the couch, she danced around the rim of consciousness, ripping at the seams of her

Milk For Free

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The last time she wore fur-lined gloves...

Celebrating Difference

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Because they boil bananas and I fry them.

From The Island Of Final Regrets

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A friend of mine recently died and went to Heaven, or so I innocently thought. It was only when I received a letter a month later postmarked “The Island of Final Regrets” that I realized he was still in transit.

Two of a Kind

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What was it about women that made them know these kinds of things about one another, about people, the way they came together, the future? Crater thought back to Dresden, the exchange student from Holland. She knew things like that.

Gardening

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Something about the Garden of Eden. That it isn't really a garden, and I'm not even sure what Eden means.

Baby Carrot

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In my choppings, I come across a tiny carrot amidst the baby carrots. The runt if you will.

Keisha

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Keisha was the name she gave us. She said she had no father and no last name. We wrote her down as Keisha B. We already had a Keisha A. She was about twelve though she told us fourteen. Her eyes were older than we dared think. We knew her mother had been murdered and that's…