Stories tagged short-story

Flash Before Your Eyes

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It was the dead of winter. I took my father's shotgun from his closet. He kept it wrapped up in one of those khaki-colored gun tote bags that had a zipper running the whole length of the gun. It was a 16-gauge, single action shotgun. Anyone could tell wha

Obituary

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Patrick Savage, who has died aged 29, was a poker player fast on his way to becoming a cult figure in the music scene.

The Cry of Freedom

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"Only the gods in heaven can do such things," he shouted back, his voice hoarse and parched from no water for two days. "Wouldn't your God have saved you by now if he had the power?"

The Cat's Chair

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A cat terrorizes a small family. They fight back.

Patches & Seams

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"Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that… one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Naked Wedding

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New Year’s day was my brother’s third wedding, and people gathered in the Memorial Garden, up the path above the main part of the camp. My mother, Terri, Quebec, and Quebec's daughter, Judy — who was Catholic and just visiting, and who wouldn't go o

In Her Wake

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A piece of her skull landed here. But it fell off. Then I couldn't find it.

Almost There

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On the phone I asked my mother how she was doing. “I’m getting old,” she said. “Going slow. But getting there. I’m ninety-four!” My mother was always 94, when she was really 93. I remember she was 93 right after she turned 92. And 92

A Bupkis in Gary's Bonnet

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uncush­ioned by the under­wear and inflat­able party dolls packed in the suit­cases that now cir­cled below, wait­ing for the Sad Men on Vaca­tion Society of Kamloops

“Springsteen, Isaiah, and Shakespeare walk into this bar…”

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It’s a comfortable, upscale place where children ride around standing on motorized scooters, with radio ears and cell phones attached to their cheeks like new Darwinian phenomena.

“Springsteen, Isaiah, and Shakespeare walk into this bar…”

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I watched him in my rear view mirror, my young son Miguel, unable to escape the tide that was rising, lurching steadily inland from history. It would gather young men like him; carry them away like answers to riddles as old as Babylon.

Anniversary Dinner at Denny's

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A mile down the road, they found Denny’s. It was only four in the afternoon so there was no wait and the couple sat right away.

Bandit

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After Alice scraped the decorative border from the nursery walls, she placed an ad in the university housing office. Summer break had just started, but within days someone called. Rune was her name. “Like the fortune-telling alphabet,” the girl said.

Ibby's Falafel

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Dark hung over the night like an occupation force. Across the street a Cuban diner fought it off with green and yellow neon lights, Latin rhythm beating through the air.

Lamb

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Earlier, after settling into the guest room, her mother had unpacked the ice packs matter-of-factly, tsking at those that had melted completely, as if carting a carcass from Newark to Los Angeles should have been trouble-free.