April, 2016 Archives
Apr
Becoming
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Mrs. Hoover knelt in front of me, a gesture reserved for the quietest of her preschool students.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” she repeated.
I knew what I would become, but it had nothing to do with wanting or wishing. My fate felt solid, and it vied for my attention.
I tried to ignore the itch.
Even at a young age I knew that it would be dangerous to provide details.
“It doesn’t matter what I want to be, only what I am becoming,” I recited, the scales on my ankle yearning to be scratched.
From Guest Contributor Sarah Vernetti
Apr
After Midnight
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
After midnight, we climb the cemetery fence.
The sky is black as ink, but Gordy’s brought a flashlight. He’s been out of juvie for two days now.
I follow him to the far corner of the plot, wind brushing my clothes like ghosts.
“This is it,” he says.
His dad’s name is on the headstone along with this year’s date, him having died while Gordy was locked up.
I’ve seen the stripes on Gordy’s back, his broken nose, of course, but when Gordy takes out a sledge hammer, winding up, I grab his arm, saying, “Do that and he wins.”
From Guest Contributor Len Kuntz
Len is a writer from Washington State, an editor at the online magazine Literary Orphans, and the author of I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE AND NEITHER ARE YOU out now from Unknown Press. You can also find him at lenkuntz.blogspot.com
Apr
The Appointment
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“But everything looks so tired and worn here.”
“You were the one who wanted to come to Paris to die.”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
I took her hand and pointed. “There it is. That’s the café.”
We pushed through the crowd at the door and found a table for two.
“Everyone here looks so old,” she said.
“Except for that beautiful girl at the bar.”
“Madame et monsieur. Vous desirez?”
“Do you speak English?”
“Yes.”
“Who is the beautiful girl at the bar?”
“That is Death.”
“But I thought Death was…”
“Monsieur, the older one gets the more beautiful Death becomes.”
From Guest Contributor Reynold Junker
Apr
Cowboy
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Billy had never been drunk before. That’s why he didn’t feel much pain.
The stars above were bright.
The runt of the family, he’d run off from the farm and joined the ranchers. They had gone to the saloon.
The strumpet at the bar had smiled at him. After his seventh whisky she winked.
Billy felt like a man. He was somebody.
“Move over boy,” the stranger said.
Billy stood his ground. There were words, then the challenge.
Outside, Billy got shot in the chest. Alone, he lay dying.
Tomorrow they would bury him. A nobody in a nobody’s grave.
From Guest Contributor Ian Fletcher
Ian is originally from South Wales. He studied English Literature at Oxford University many years ago. He currently lives in Taiwan with his family and is a high school teacher there. He has also been a freelance writer for over 12 years, writing articles for Taiwanese educational textbooks. He has had short stories published in various genres on Short-story.me, Schlock! Webzine, Schlock! Bi-Monthly, Anotherealm, Under the Bed, and in anthologies by Horrified Press and Rogue Planet Press. He is an Affiliate Member of the Horror Writers Association.
Apr
Ride
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Only a motorcyclist knows why a dog sticks his head out a car window, he thought. A perfect day for a road trip. 79 degrees, cloudless blue sky, divorce finalized, and the new girlfriend’s boobs felt terrific against his back. The speedometer needle inched past 105mph. Miles of Nevada Highway 50 stretched into the horizon.
The auditory bliss of an unmuffled V-Twin’s howl was joined, and subsequently replaced, by a symphony of mechanical annihilation. 1200 feet and sixty-five seconds later, a cloud of pink mist, feathers, chrome, plastic, aluminum, steel, and leather came to rest.
The desert’s natural silence prevailed.
From Guest Contributor Edward Yoho
Edward recently earned an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University. According to his spirit guide/favorite professor, the title of his thesis, Science Fiction, Sarcasm, and Other Profane Oddities, accurately reflects his writing aesthetic. Edward’s previous publication credits include an essay and a fiction story in Potluck Magazine.
Apr
Say Cheese
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
We hoped the bad dog was gone. We couldn’t put off seeing our daughter’s family in upstate New York but they had a mean pit bull who they said was as gentle and loved kids.
He was gentle as long as my daughter or son-in-law were around but the minute they left the room he’d look at us, bare his teeth and growl in defiance.
Last visit I took a picture of that look on my cell and showed it to my daughter as proof positive to bolster our fear.
“Isn’t my Bruno cute?” She said. “He’s smiling at you.”
From Guest Contributor Paul Beckman
Apr
Traveller
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
As soon as Aarthi could walk she had toddled off to the nearby railroad crossing and plopped herself down under the sign to play in the dust with whatever curios escaped from the trains’ wakes as they slowed.
Her skinny brown legs had quickly lost their natural skin-glow as she had sprawled in pursuit of imagination. She’d found a shiny dollar once. Mam had taken that. Aarthi had got ice-cream.
***
Sixteen long years ago. Now, she eased her battered body to a sitting position and placed her hand on the rail. It was coming to free her from her abuser.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Apr
Paul
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Paul was proud of his bike.
When Mabel walked home after school, he sped past her, throwing some sly remark. Showing off. His grin stuck with her and played havoc with evening homework.
Sometime later, Mabel didn’t see him riding his bike. She didn’t see him at all in school.
Curious, she decided to walk a different route home; past his parents’ house. In the garbage put out for collection was Paul’s crumpled bike.
“Your mom told me about the accident.” Mabel said at the hospital.
“Thanks for visiting,” Paul answered. “No one else from school did.”
They exchanged smiles.
From Guest Contributor Krystyna Fedosejevs
Krystyna writes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Her work has been published at: Nailpolish Stories, 50-Word Stories, 100 word story, 101 Words, Boston Literary Magazine, From the Depths (Haunted Waters Press), ShortbreadStories, SixWordMemoirs, and Espresso Stories.
Apr
Drum
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
There is one bright dancer among them. Her hands trace the music onto air. The “U” of her hips sways, telling bedroom stories. Melodies float her toward the youngest doumbek player, barely bearded.
She bends to him, smiling, flirting even, to the ululating tongues of all her watching sisters but as the hafla pauses to draw a collective breath, I see the truth: her focus is not the boy drummer. She shines for the pulled-skin drum.
An elderly man leans near me. “It is all that remains of her husband.”
“He played?” I am confused.
He shrugs. “He had enemies.”
From Guest Contributor Laura Lovic-Lindsay
Apr
Public Poems Built On Public Property
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Public poems built on public property are, as they say, asking for it. When you use such flimsy bread, eating away at holy Wonder until such thinly-sliced letters remain, every one meant to be swallowed, not whispered; when you hold them down with found rocks in a stream that is not a stream, just a concrete ditch void of the hand of God; when you slip out the window in the night like a Sufi thief or an idiot child, praying the wrong way, dancing naked, licking vowels in your own nonsense language
don’t expect to get anything
except
arrested.
From Guest Contributor Brook Bhagat
After graduating with a BA in English from Vassar College, Brook Bhagat landed her first paid writing job as a reporter for a small-town Colorado newspaper. She left it to travel to India, where she fell in love, got married and canceled her ticket home. She and her husband Gaurav write freelance articles for dozens of publications, including Outpost, Ecoworld, and Little India. In 2013, they launched www.BluePlanetJournal.com, which she edits and writes for. She also teaches writing at a community college, is earning her MFA in Writing at Lindenwood University, and is writing a novel.