Two pit bulls lumber to the roadside fence as my friends and I pull up to the clapboard house. The dogs’ slavering jaws and muscled shoulders strain against the wire gate. My heart races. I’m reluctant to step out of …
She pops the chocolate into her mouth and holds it in her cheek, not quite sure what to do next. A memory surfaces: Dad arriving home, dusty and worn in his khaki uniform, a bar of Fry’s Orange Cream in his hand. Her mum smiling: …
It is your responsibility to write the obituary. You’re the oldest grandchild, and currently living in Shanghai—unable to help with any of the funeral preparations. Your parents reminded you that everyone knew Grandpa had dementia, and he wouldn’t want anyone …
In 2011, on a brutally hot August morning, my eighty-seven-year-old mother and I arrived at Florida’s West Palm Beach airport for her final flight to New York. On arrival, two good-natured stewards seated mom in a wheelchair and escorted us …
Expectedly thrown. I lick syrupy droplets. Only the ice hurts.
Ele Pawelski published her debut novella, The Finest Supermarket in Kabul, with Quattro Books at the end of 2017. Her short stories have appeared in the Nashwaak Review, The …
What does it say about me that, when someone steals my identity, I’m offended if they use it to shop at a dollar store? I have nothing against dollar stores per se. But would it kill them to go to …
The first time I saw Chetachi after she moved into our house, she was in the backyard, brushing her teeth. Even through the toothpaste foam, I could tell she had a gleaming white set of teeth.
‘Hi,’ she mumbled, looking …
On her first birthday
Her mask
Couldn’t hide
Her smile.
Jim lives in a small town twenty miles west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His stories have appeared in many online and print publications. His collection of short stories Resilience is scheduled …
A ninety-second video did for us what three years of pleading could not: convince Amma to let us adopt a puppy.
“I have one hopeless husband, two thankless children, and endless chores. Why would I want to add a smelly …