Bea makes her way down the back steps in Gerry’s old slippers, rag and bowl of warm water in hand. Among the lavender jacaranda petals step the three laying hens. The girls. Bea needs to check for signs of diarrhea....
The Girls
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Patricia Q. Bidar
Patricia Q. Bidar is a western U.S. writer and a Port of Los Angeles area native. She is the author of Pardon Me for Moonwalking (2025, Unsolicited Press) and Wild Plums (2024, ELJ Editions). Patricia’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including Painted Bride Quarterly, Another Chicago Magazine, Waxwing, The Pinch, Wigleaf, and Smokelong Quarterly, and has been selected for Flash Fiction America (W.W. Norton) and the Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction anthologies. She lives, writes, and reads in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit patriciaqbidar.com
In Dreams You’re Mine All of the Time
James was grieving the death of his father, who’d mistrusted Michaela. Too dark a horse, he’d warned. She’d be the one to break him. James had told Michaela this in bed, laughing, after a good and unhurried sexual...
Chaos
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...
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...