A Friend when Needed
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Tad looked suddenly very serious. The game was long over and the last two pieces of pizza had gone cold. Beer had been drunk: enough to lower the inhibitions but not enough to drop them both into a stupor. He looked at Jason, squarely in the eyes.

“I can trust you, man,” he said, “I know I can. We’ve been true pals for so long that I feel I can tell you anything. I can, can’t I?”

Lois came in and saw my look of confusion. “This is so weird,” I said. “And awkward.”

“It’s only awkward if we make it awkward,” she told me.

Truth in Tears

by Erisian

My dad was never one to go to church, nor one to talk about what he believed. As a teenager I asked him once if he believed in God and even now I remember his reply. He looked at me carefully from behind those antiquated black-rimmed glasses of his and said simply, “Doesn’t matter if I believe or not, son. God is either there or he isn’t. But this life, well, this life is mine to live as I choose.” At the time I was frustrated that he didn't answer the question; it wasn’t until much later that I realized he had in fact answered something perhaps far deeper.

He was like that, my dad.

“We have to get you a phone, and I guess we should talk about allowance.”

“What did you give Celine?” I asked.

He laughed. “Celine was a thief,” he replied. “You don’t need to give money to a thief.”

In romantic comedies someone holds off telling something important,
and it screws up everything.

You watch the film, and find yourself shouting, “Just say it! Just tell her!”
but they don’t. It’s always “the wrong time.”

Chapter 3.6

I rejoined John in observing Sylvia. Our people were being forced downstairs, and we were helpless to stop it. We watched as they came were herded to the palace, and then the throne room. I gasped as the shimmering air coalesced into a man.

"Here they are, my Lord, " he told Amos, who was sitting, once again on his throne.

Molly Grows Up
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Thanksgiving was fast approaching. Despite a blisteringly hot summer, there was already some snow at higher elevations just to the west of Denver. Ma had said more than once that this was a sure sign of a hard winter ahead. I knew from bitter experience that her track record in forecasting the weather was better than any of the TV weather women.

Head Injury
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Part 1 - Mike

I remember those few minutes after I regained consciousness so very well.

I opened my eyes and reached to my face. There was a tube in my nose. I knew immediately where I was, I was in the hospital. But then I looked at my hand. I looked at the back of my hand and it did not look right. I found myself thinking that my hand should be beautiful. That is needed to be smooth and soft and that the nails should be shaped and polished.

It was a perfectly fine day.
My espresso was perfection: overly sugared with whip cream along the top.
The coffee kept me level-headed—zen in a cup. Nirvana. A way to get my mind to not think about the forty-five minute drive it took to get to work from the suburbs. I had no issues getting from my apartment to the local Starbucks and then onto the “they call it an interstate highway, but it’s a parking lot”, just like Joni Mitchell said.

“If you walk out of this room, if we never see you again,
I will think about you every day.
I won’t want to, but that’s what will happen.”

A Comedy of Errors

A short story by Rosemary

August 2020

Doug North and his wife, Carol, were truckers. For many years, Doug had pulled flatbed all over the country, while Carol stayed home with the kids. Now that the kids were out of the house, Carol traveled with Doug.

On this particular day, they were in a backwater town, somewhere in the middle of northern Idaho, having just loaded up some treated fence posts. Doug was throwing a strap over the load when out on the two-lane highway, a car blew a tire.

Sometimes you can’t appreciate what you have, until it’s gone.

Chapter 3.5

It had been three weeks since Rashda had gone downstairs to see what happened to Belinda. He had never confirmed what I thought occurred to her, but his statement referencing The Godfather made it seem likely.

I had spoken to John about it, and he agreed with me. We had watched the movie a few times, but now I felt like removing it from the ship’s archives. I didn’t think I could ever watch it again.

WARNING CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF MURDER AND EXECUTIONS BY BEHEADING

After leaving Maxine’s home in Reigate, Kim travelled by train back to Royston where her car was parked. When she changed trains at Blackfriars, she nearly left the package that Maxine had given her on the train. For a moment, the swore at herself for being so absent minded. Then she laughed at herself. Absentmindedness was a family trait that she’d worked hard to eliminate. Kim wondered if the emotional trials and tribulations of the recent few weeks was finally catching up with her.

Floria

Chapter 1

Andy knew things weren’t going well for his best friend, but he wasn’t ready for the phone call he received late that night. He was doing a bit of work on his computer, alright, gaming, when his phone buzzed. He didn’t think the spammers would be calling at 1:00 AM, but you never could tell.

It wasn’t spam, it was his high school buddy, Benny (Beniamino) Fiorito. “Hey Benny, what’s up? Isn’t it a bit late to be calling?”

“Huh,” I said, taking it in. “So how do they switch back? The people who got switched?
Do you bring them together and poof! they’re back to who they were?
Or does the switch wear off after an hour or a day or something?”