1. The fourth-grade mothers learn that one of the fourth-grade girls, Jade, is missing. Their sons and daughters announce this at the dinner tables. The children are reluctant to provide the news. Nothing like this has...
Chaos
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Patricia Q. Bidar
Patricia Quintana Bidar is a western writer from the Port of Los Angeles area. Her short fiction has been published in journals including Wigleaf, Smokelong Quarterly, The Pinch, Atticus Review, and Variant Lit and widely anthologized, including in Flash Fiction America (W.W. Norton), Best Small Fictions 2023 and 2024 (Alternating Current), and Best Microfiction 2023 (Pelekinesis Press). Patricia's novelette, Wild Plums (ELJ Press), was published in 2024. Her collection of short works, Pardon Me For Moonwalking, is coming in December 2025 from Unsolicited Press. See patriciaqbidar.com for more.
When You Come Home From Nashville
I get lost three times en route to the Oakland Airport, ten minutes from home. I have waited for you through a year of your travels. The infrequent social media posts; the even rarer calls. I arrive late. My daughter,...
Rat Girl
She calls herself Rat Girl, but she looks like a little Swiss doll. Now in the Chapel, she is singing round-eyed over our heads and serpentine-ing her head in the shape of infinity as she always does. Her arms are...