Butchering
by Amanda Pauley
Mom is as stunned as a hog after the first bullet when I tell her that Ray won’t be over until after Thanksgiving dinner. I say it to her in between the scraping sounds she makes sharpening her knife. She doesn’t put down knife number five but turns around with it in her hand to stare at my large belly I’ve draped a pink cotton babydoll blouse over…
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In the Bodies of Beautiful Fish
by Michael Minchin
When Quinn Meyers looks up from his cutting board, there are more fish moving along the conveyor: fat salmon, already gutted, or half-gutted, messy from the machines that cannot slice the fins neatly enough or strip the pink membrane from the cavity with the delicate swipe of a blade.
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The Goddamn Caped Canaveral
by Hubert Vigilla
Dylan Cape emerged from the marquee tent to Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” The horns blared and the timpani thundered like daybreak and creation. Through the shimmering, rising heat Dylan surveyed the crowd gathered along the security barricades. Ten thousand strong, he was told, and all eyes on him…Read more
The Buddhists
by Shannon Reed
“The Buddhists have a saying,” Tim said, “that when something breaks, it is to distract us from the beautiful new thing that is being born.” His hands draped loosely, calmly, over the steering wheel. He smiled slightly, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening, but did not look at his wife…Read more
Somewhere in That Space
by Warren Read
The first time I heard the story of Rodney’s mother I was with Eddie DeMint and Marcus Wallen in the gazebo at Douglas Park, picking off a half rack of malt liquor that Marcus had swiped from his dad’s store. We’d ditched the dance before the last song, ducking the chaperones and sprinting…Read more
Making Weight
by Edward Boyle
My final year of high school wrestling starts today and this will be the last time I eat bacon and eggs until the season ends. I have to cut sixteen pounds to get to one hundred and forty, and I’ve been at it long enough to know that the wrestler who starts cutting weight early ends the season right…Read more
Beanie’s Island
by Alan E. Kennedy
She had flown up from Houston, unannounced, because there was something she had to tell me, she said. She put down her shoulder bag and gave me a quick hug, then walked over to Richie who had been dozing in his chair in front of the TV and gave him a kiss. There were gifts as usual: another fishing vest for Richie…Read more
Remnants
by Barbara Harroun
We noticed first about Percy not his bubble butt or magnified goldfish eyes looming behind thick glasses, nor his crooked, wide-spaced teeth, but the exquisite beauty of his mother. We noticed how she crouched down to straighten his maroon tie (those the days of Catholic uniforms) and gaze…Read more