Children
Captain Daddy
by Jen Beaney & Izzy WinghamJames was a Captain in the United States Army, but no war zone could have prepared him for taking care of his three year old son Shawn on his own. James had taken leave from the Army so his wife Jessica could go out of state to care of her sick mother. He was excited …
Postcard for Arizona
by Jeff Burt & Kristy LankfordCori stepped into the desert in the winter in Arizona. It was her last day of vacation and everything appeared dead. As she passed a saguaro cactus, she noticed the right spoke pointed toward the earth. She heard a snicker and turned back. The right spoke now pointed skyward. She passed an armadillo. “A large version of …
Voices
by Ruth Ann Hixson & Terri KelleherClarence didn’t remember when he first began hearing the voices. He’d been quite small because he’d been hearing them as far back as he could remember. Male and female voices that told him, “Do this; don’t do that.” When he first mentioned it to his mother, he’d been five years old. She told him it …
Misfit
by Aarushi Gupta & Alankrita AmayaHeat wave in Delhi was unbearable. Correction, heat wave in any part of the world was unbearable. The persistent, sultry gusts of wind and dust would hit one’s face like inspiration hits a struggling writer — out of the blue, when you’re least expecting it and yet impatiently, desperately awaiting its arrival. It’s only when the storm …
Stones
by Rebekka Boyer Bishop & Pam CaseyThe valley was old when the rains fell. The waters cut through the soil and the soft sandstone, and the stream was born. Deer and foxes and coyotes and quail lived in the valley. The red man came to hunt them, leaving no trace in their wake. Then the white man came. They took the stones from …