Their men and boys were gone before they’d crossed into Nebraska. Teddy was the last to go. Mary never thought he would make it as long as he did due to his temper and his drinking. But he did. Then one night, he went out to take a piss while they were camped inside a […]
Ahalya ran her fingers through the folds of the veil before taking it from her handmaid’s arm. Its deep red fabric was fine and thin between her fingers, and she whirled it around her body in a fluttering scarlet typhoon before draping it over her head. The slender, dark-haired princess looked over her shoulder at […]
We met in college, which is to say, Ohio. A small liberal arts school you’ve probably heard of and regard with either approval or suspicion, depending on your politics. Me, enrolled in the music conservatory, and her, art history, although really, her heart was set on baking. It was a coffee shop sort of thing, […]
Jackie Kennedy has been angry with her father ever since her wedding day. Still, she reluctantly agrees to meet him for lunch. He’s been indefatigable with his entreaties, and besides, she could use his advice. Leaving behind the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, where the newlyweds seem to be stuck for now, she takes the […]
Evan Little lives in a narrow, blue, two-story townhome. His is Model A, which is the best model. His bathroom is to the left of his closet. Models B and C have their bathrooms on the right. His back patio overlooks the canal, which is the best view. Much better than the community pool because […]
Daisy wandered into MacKay’s Pub and went to the phone at the back, ignoring whatever the barman grumbled at her as he wiped down the counter. She leaned against the sticky wall and plunked her change into the slot. After a terse conversation with an early shift operator, a man picked up on the other […]
Marcus suspected that he would never quite get used to weightlessness. He’d been back-down at launch, with the contact points of his body pressed reassuringly into the seat’s cushion by Ashran gravity. For a time, during takeoff, his weight had tripled, but even that had felt somewhat natural. Down was still down. Up was still up. But […]
She runs a hand across her stomach. It is only the smell of burning meat, she tells herself. Jorie tells herself this again when the pump disgorges another identical dollop of homegrown beef frothing with lard and sinew that squalls, spluttering, as it slaps onto a grill of mirrored steel. Meat. Vegetables. Minerals, they pay […]
Most girls bleed. “A visitor,” Mama and my tias had called it for years, their shared and groaned secret, like a pesky neighbor arriving too often. “Someday, you too,” they’d promised. When I awoke to the twisting in my center, a foreign pain that was somehow familiar, I thought I was no different. I was […]
Even before her niece arrives, Imogen can feel her sparrows stirring. It’s been twenty years since she’s allowed herself to feel them. It’s been twenty years since she’s allowed herself to feel anything at all. ### When Ginny arrives at Aunt Imogen’s house, the raven is still on the back of her hand. CPS couldn’t […]
Overhead lighting is disabled. It is late at the Home for Aging A.I.s, and my internal clock counts the passing of each solitary electron. By the dim glow of our power indicators, my stereopticon discerns the cuboid polycarbonate shells of my fellow residents. Their tripod-mounted cameras stare without focus. My audio input device detects only […]
It’ll be one of those nights. I can tell. I can always tell. Firstly, it has to be the right time of night. Late enough, but not so late for the drink to have truly set in. There will have been just enough alcohol to fuel the fire but not enough to completely incapacitate. Secondly, […]