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flash fiction

Lisa Won’t Quit Scuba

Lisa Won’t Quit Scuba

You and Lisa tried to save your marriage by taking some community education classes. Intro to Pottery started in March, Beginning Scuba was slated for May.  “Maybe learning new things will rekindle our love,” you told her.  “Maybe learning new things will prove our...

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Into the Sink

Into the Sink

She slipped her thumb into her mouth, sucked in a heavy swallow of air, shrunk her waist to the size of a noodle, and disappeared down the kitchen sink drain. Slithering down the pipe, she shrugged the darkness on like a winter coat. There was a piece of dark meat...

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Fable

Fable

Michelle Dong lived with her father and fourteen cousins in a butter-soft house at the end of the block, the only family in the neighborhood not directly related to us. In another country, Uncle Dong used to be some kind of teacher, but now he sold parts of his car....

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Spaghetti Junction

Spaghetti Junction

I had been snow-drifting through December, on slow trains and delayed buses, ending each day with a long icy walk past other bodies, also losing grip. I could not get home that night, none of us could; Spaghetti Junction had filled with snow. We decided to camp at the...

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SOUTHWEST LOOP 820

SOUTHWEST LOOP 820

That summer in Dallas my roommate Tina stole a Penthouse from her father’s stash. We wanted to see why Miss America surrendered her crown. Tina scoffed at the black and white photographs. Disgusting, she said. What sluts. I thought their bodies were tender and...

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You Will Do This

You Will Do This

She will look tired. He will look bored. They will sit on the edge of their bed, close enough to indicate they are still married, far enough apart to indicate how it is going. They will have called you to their bedroom, which will be immediately weird. Your parents...

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The Future History of the Arctic

The Future History of the Arctic

100. Someone has broken into the Global Seed Vault.  99. If you kill an ice bear, you have to tell the Governor.  98. If you do not, you will be subject to loopholes.  97. The Governor has an expensive Spanish carmine speedboat he takes for unlawful...

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Raise the Babies

Raise the Babies

Goth Nanny The baby sees black eyeliner circling dead eyes that teach skepticism, or something more sinister, a desire to detach from society. The buggy is covered in black satin. Goth Nanny likes to hang out by the cliffs, along the sharp stone edge, in view of the...

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Remember Tomorrow in Seasons

Remember Tomorrow in Seasons

Planting Season  “But what if?” Woman leaves the unfinished question hanging in the air, touching her swelling stomach. Man already knows what she is asking. “We will find a way to make it work. We always find a way.” Heavy Rains Season The baby smiles and she...

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In Violet

In Violet

The kitchen lightbulb shatters above our heads. The filament burns red and fizzles to nothing. It is an explosion from light to black. We breathe hard in the aftermath, check each other for broken glass and he says to me, I can’t be here anymore. # Chicago-Read is...

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Carrion Clay

Carrion Clay

Sometimes the name they give you is all wrong.  It's really just meant to be a simple, two-word phrase to let people talk about a particular shade.  "Honey, do you prefer Autumn Sand or Copper Slate?" or  "Can I get two gallons of Alpine Storm?" ...

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