The Unbearable Sadness of Home Shopping THERE IT WAS. The perfect house. I scrolled through the photographs on Zillow once, twice, three times. Four bedrooms, three baths, in a great school district, and priced within our budget. It was perfect. I texted my wife. Found one. Let's go see it this afternoon. She emojiied a … Continue reading We Are All Stardust: Part 1
Photo by Leon Contreras on Unsplash Author's Note Okay, so I may have mentioned that sometimes I really get into a book. Well, it happened again. I read Soul Tracing: Taboo for a romance book club recently, and boy, did it upset me. I have this thing where I need the books I read to … Continue reading We Are All Stardust
MAGGIE LEANED AGAINST the wall, the obligatory red Solo cup of warm beer in hand. She had no intention of drinking it. It was a prop, to fend off obnoxious Wall Street boys. Why aren't you drinking, baby? Maggie fought the urge to smile. The funny thing was they thought they were being subtle. Across … Continue reading At a Party
JANE TOUCHED HER neck, checking her pulse. Third time around the lake, and she was keeping steady at 98 bpm. How frustrating. "Push it, girl," she muttered out loud. "You want a skinny ass? Push it. Push it, dammit!" It didn't work. She didn't feel like pushing it, whether she should or not. Maintaining … Continue reading After Work
THE WAITER CAME over the moment she sat down. "Bonsoir, madamoiselle." He assisted with her chair and napkin. "Voulez-vous boire quelque chose?" She wished he could give her a minute to settle. It took courage for a single young woman to eat out alone in Paris. "Oui... une tasse d'eau, si'l vous plait, san gas." … Continue reading Ça, c’est très français.
The lovely and beguiling RayNotBradbury has a new challenge out this week. I found ‘Mysterious Me’ to be the most compelling. You woke up on the street with the lost memory (amnesia). What would you do? _____ * _____ * _____ * _____ * _____ MY HEAD HURTS. It's a dull, pounding kind of pain. I touch … Continue reading Mysterious Me
I'D SEEN SOME messed up people in my time, but nothing like the woman curled up in the corner of the interview room. She was covered with dirt and her hair looked like a bird's nest... no, wait, that was a bird's nest in her hair... her arms were wrapped around her knees as she … Continue reading Bigfoot: A Romance
FUNNY HOW SOME men shut down when it's time to step up. "Greg, do you have the insurance papers?" Suzanne stuck her head in the living room. "Greg? Greg, are you listening?" He stood frozen in front of the picture window. "I'll take that as a no." She ran upstairs to the study and shoved … Continue reading Letting Go
"THEY'RE VERY HIGH." The woman looks at the shoe's heel, unable to hide her delight. "Very high." Considering she's not the one who's buying them, it doesn't matter what she thinks. Still, he has to play the game. "Would you like to try the other?" he asks, offering her the shoe's mate. It's an expensive … Continue reading Shoes
Liz Charnes 