When the River Sets us Free
by Leigh Aplin

Her fur is gone and that makes me sad. I liked sitting here watching her, but I was envious of her freedom. I’d like that kind of freedom too. Alistair says it’s too dangerous for me to go out there. […]

Phantom Routine
by Glen Creed

The patch pulses on the back of my neck, insistent. More vein than machine. 
I trace steps mapped by a foreign will; each motion fluid, whispered through my bones. Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Pirouette.[…]

Sasquatch in the Woods
by Lori D’Angelo

At the end of that summer, my friends were all talking about Patrick Swazye on the dance floor, but it was the Bigfoot movie with that lady from Anne of Green Gables and that kid from Full House that affected me the most. […]

The First Rat of the Day
by Del Griffith

A scratch. A shuffle of feet. An unwanted presence. I stare into the gloom, trying to spot the intruder. A brain eater, no doubt, looking for food. It picked the wrong place — and the wrong guy. […]

Cruel and Unusual
by Sam Logan

Guilty. 

They lock people up for all kinds of reasons. Dissent. Distribution of banned books. Dressing too masculine if you’re a woman, like me. […]

Growing Pains
by P.J. McCarthy

It began with a tingle in the backs of my knees. “Pollen allergy, you get it from your mother’s side,” my father said. The tingles spread down to my toes and graduated to trembles, making it difficult to sleep. […]

Mulch
by David K. Mitchell

The rhythmic chugging of a steam engine swelled in the distance. As it approached the nearest pickup point little more than twenty feet from the house – Morwenna braced herself for the call…[…]

Edwin’s Home
by Laura Nagle

Ashley spent half her childhood in the house she is now destroying for profit. She’s painting most of the walls millennial gray and tearing down a few others “to open up the floor plan”… […]

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Awakening
by Clodagh O’Connor

The three moons float in the night sky – they look down on us like the mothers we barely remember. My brother shoves one of his carved wooden soldiers between the window and the moons, snorts at my upturned face…[…]

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The Point Pleasant Quilting Retreat
by Christine Powers

You watch the circle of squishy, soft humans from the boughs of an ancient oak tree, your gleaming red eyes unnoticeable in the bright daylight. Humans are strange, featherless creatures you usually ignore…[…]

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Albuquerque Blue
by RM Soutar

On Sandia Crest the air thinned to nothing. It left space for grief to grow feral. The sky hovered above, a sharp, aching blue. Bright as his eyes the last time he truly saw me. Albuquerque Blue, I used to call it. […]

Hope & District Fall Fair Class #33: make a gift basket with card for a shut-in. Judged on cheeriness. Sponsored by One Blue Pine Nursing Home.
by Karen Walker

I bring my entry for class #33 to the big stripey tent at the fairgrounds. I arrange the items for the judges, posing the teddy bear so it hugs my letter. […]

Hubert’s Mold
by Borealice Winters

What should’ve been a relaxing week went taut as Hubert saw the twisting path to the cabin. When he fetched his notepad, it wasn’t to write, as he’d promised his wife Lydia… […]

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