At first, she thought it was a dream, but she’d felt the whisper of breath tickle her cheek and the gentle stroke along her back. Elise stared up at the strange shape of pale light on the ceiling. Outlines of things in the room began to take […]
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The therapist, Dr. Blankenship, continued to stare down at the writing pad in his lap when she told him she had grown weary, and not only weary but bored with life. “Yes, that’s it, I’m bored,” Elise said. “And you think that by ending your life you […]
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Pell couldn’t recall ever seeing his life move away from him in a long, never-ending road, but it must have seemed that way to him once. Now, however, as he drove straight into the blood orange heart of the dying sun, he could only envision how the […]
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The big-humped bull crashed out of the thick tangle of salt cedar and Russian olives along the river. He was the same bull they’d seen yesterday, the one they’d hoped to rouse today. He spotted the three cowboys, snot flying from his wide muzzle, eyes on fire, […]
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Romy stubbed out his cigarette on the balustrade of the balcony of his small apartment and flicked the butt into the empty street below. He liked standing in the warm winter sunshine and resisted going back inside. He spent most of his time inside, so he enjoyed […]
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Just when they decided they loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, he got sick. Terminal cancer, the doctors told him. He had maybe six or seven months. He didn’t want to tell her, but he knew he had to. Already […]
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Enrique stepped out into the rush of midday traffic. Cars screeched to a halt. One car ran into the back of the car in front of it. The driver in the front car leapt out and screamed at the other driver. The other driver screamed back. It […]
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From underneath her wide-brimmed hat, Helen slid down her sunglasses to smile up at Zed, standing in the glare of sunlight on the patio of Doppler’s Bar and Grille. “May I join you?” he asked. She said nothing, but she nodded in the direction of an empty […]
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JOE, the Navajo, sitting in the glow of the campfire, turned around and dug the pint of whiskey out of his saddle bags. He twisted off the cap and looked across the smoke and sparks of the fire at Dan. Dan looked up. Joe reached the bottle […]
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He moved slowly from the hospital bed to the bathroom. I watched his agony. I looked over at my grandmother. She sat quietly, my grandfather’s pain reflected in her eyes. They had been married, my grandfather and grandmother, for over forty years, and had raised two daughters, […]
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