Tag: Fiction
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Fourth Move
A CFO sits down to dinner alone, weighs his options, and picks the one that lets him sleep. Chess with real stakes. Meet Roger, in Fourth Move.
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Hat Trick
Dale swears it’s true. Merv doesn’t buy it. Then Phil walks in, shaking, and orders a double.
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Burning Field
Justin Lamberio went to a protest. Councilman Devereux is smiling, watching him get arrested. Now his attorney, Frank Delgado is worried.
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The Dragon Remembers
The dragon never fought. Never growled. Never breathed fire after the first few weeks being tethered to the chain. That was the hardest part for the Keeper to explain. The Dragon Remembers. Five Minute Observations.
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On Time
Would God really bring me halfway around the world to die in a foreign country? Find out today. Five Minute Observations.
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Spud, Hanover, Tweed, and Spiner: Tri-Cities Iowa
Floyd Patterson lost the dairy. Lost the land. Lost about eight years to the wrong people. Now he sits in a booth at Janice’s diner, nursing coffee and an unlit cigarette, glaring at anybody who tells him to put a sock in it. Some towns hold onto their people. Some people hold onto their towns.…
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Key? What key?
Marcus woke up hungover, handcuffed to a steering wheel, and missing his Ray-Bans. The key belongs to Eric. Eric is somewhere over the Pacific. And Doug? Doug wants a breakfast burrito. Some mornings just go sideways from the first click.
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White Paint
Pledge wood cleaner. The scent of lemon washed over Marla the second she stepped through the church doors. A sharp citrus scent and underneath it, something much older, mustier, harder to scrub away. Old hymnals. Wool carpet. The smell ancient churches accumulate whether they want to or not. It’s a smell Marla notices because she…
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The Missing Building
One unexpected photograph lands on the table at Dan’s Drive-In Diner, and the building in the picture? It might not exist anymore.
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He Knows My Name
A stranger in Pioneer Square quotes lines from banned books. Ink-stained fingers. Knowledge of old stories makes him dangerous. But it’s what he knows about me that turns my blood cold. In a world without books, how does he know my name?
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The Woman with the Cleaning Cart Who Changed How I See Worth
At 7:15 AM, she rolls her cart through the Gibson Center radiating what the patients are seeking. Most abandon it somewhere along the way. The secret I discovered will reshape how you see everything.
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525 Degrees of Truth: A Roofing Accident That Changed Everything
You can smell hot asphalt from three blocks away. But when you’re standing next to 525-degree molten tar, that smell becomes everything. The mid-June sun beat down on Timber Ridge Junior High that Friday morning. We had a new guy on our Arrow Roofing crew. Darrell claimed to be a journeyman. His handshake was firm,…
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Good Neighbors Gone Bad
“She said WHAT? Who says that?” “Hold on, they’re sayin’ somethin’ about meat…” “Attention shoppers, we have a special on Chuck roast, three ninety-nine a pound—” “Okay, I’m back. Yeah. Beth straight up tells her the check ain’t good till Monday!” “Lord, Crystal, that’s exactly the kind of mess I got tired of. Nobody in…
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Liquid Rocket Fuel
⚽ Twelve 8-year-olds + 200mg of caffeine + one mortified coach = the best bar story you’ll hear today. Trust us, you want to hear how this ends.
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Seventeen Minutes
It started with a bank envelope. Fat with cash. Eight hundred and fifty dollars. Carl’s and my paychecks—cashed and crisp, now bulging in my pocket. Not what I expected to carry that morning. I thought I was grabbing wipers and running errands, not stuffing Carl’s dad’s rental envelope into my jacket and slipping behind the…
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Rule One: Know What You’re Walking Into
Evening at Gemini’s, the hanging filament bulbs give an amber glow to the inside of the bar. Low-level laughter and conversation echoed through the establishment. A platinum-blonde strolled in. Not a care in the world, she popped her gum, sounding like the poppers adolescent boys threw at each other on the 4th of July. Tossing…