Erich Earl Forschler

Chasing Armadillos

Illustrated by Pam Casey

The truck’s tailpipe shook with steamy exhaust as the truck idled there between the several multi-storied and peach-colored stucco maintenance buildings. Twisted, drooping live oaks, charcoal against the fading indigo sky and dripping with Spanish moss, lined the white sand-mixed-with-oyster shell road leading in. A middle-aged man sat behind the steering wheel and smoked a …

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Merritt Bogdrosian Hunts Injun Style?

Illustrated by Cait Maloney

It was bout mid-July up there at Mama Vanney’s house near Chuckey when I first heard the story of Merritt Bogdrosian. The whole family had come out to celebrate the birthdays of Mama Vanney an cousin Laura’s baby, cause they was both born on the same day some 70 years apart. We had some tables …

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The Brief and Insignificant Life of a Lowly Tower Guard

Illustrated by Cait Maloney

The guard walking back and forth along the inner perimeter wall of the recaptured nuclear facility stopped and lit a cigarette. Once the ember was full he lifted his chin and drew in a long, deep smoky breath. Then he resumed his oscillating routine. Tower Guard 1 watched the walking guard from his perch, a metal …

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Brothers

Illustrated by Cait Maloney

There are two of them. Leather armor, marching slowly closer. One arm heavy, one shoulder lower than the other. Brothers, defeated, emerging from the brown and black fog of dust and smoke. The sun crashing behind them, muted in the haze. Their own shadows leading the way before them. Shadows in gray, no longer dark, as …

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Clouds There, But No Water

Illustrated by Lakshmy Mathur

It was a cool day, even for September. Broken clouds swam in the light blue above. The house sat at the edge of town, just off the main street that bored its way between rows of old Victorian homes with wrap-around porches and on into the heart of downtown. The annual festival continued downtown, the small …

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