Grandma kept her civilizations on a shelf in the living room. She always let me dust them. When I was just a girl, I would pick up each and peer inside. Some of the baubles were dim, the civilizations inside long since dissolving to dust. Even then they were interesting, with crumbling stone walls or […]
I wake early, the sky outside still cool with twilight. I sleep too much these days, but poorly, sliding down the slope of oblivion only to claw my way up again. The soft tapping of wings against glass is enough to pull me from my slumber. A moth, trapped, drumming against the window. I turn, […]
Durnaz never looks at the waters, that place they call the samundar. Not until the sun has safely risen over Balochistan’s coast.She keeps her eyes on the ground. Seeking salt crystals in dried up shallow pools to grind to powder, seashells to turn to trinkets, or lost metal to sell. Not once does she raise […]
<< Danilo tends to tall, yellow flowers. The sky is pink and clear, with two suns, the big Kabir and the small Saghir, smiling upon the land. Danilo has no trouble breathing and takes large, decadent breaths, filling his chest to capacity. His friend Edwin stands next to him, and Danilo can see his own […]
He brought a vixen to our first date. When he walked into the restaurant she was draped around his shoulders. At first, I thought it a weird fashion statement — fox fur over his black-striped reddish shirt — but then she lifted her head and glared at me.He hugged me hello. I leaned away, not […]
This is the Duke’s fifth wedding. All within the last three months, all to the same woman, Larian den Combasta. Yes, those Combastas. Marrying into a wealthy banking family is a smart move for Duke Diere, my boss. Add in the fact that she’s beautiful, sweet-tempered, and well-read, and the match is a win for […]
This is his element: water.* * *Holloway has come to repair the Goodwins’ washer. It chokes and sputters and burps suds across the laundry room floor. Mrs. Goodwin apologizes for the mess, for the heat, for the mangy cat that glares from the shelves above. She offers him fresh iced tea. He accepts and hikes his […]
Kobi hadn’t yet gotten out of bed, and was in fact just settling in in front of an Alf rerun, when the cockroaches arrived. They marched straight in under the curtain that separated his bedroom from the rest of the double-wide and up the leg of his pull-out bed in single file, then assembled by […]
I’m standing in the school bathroom, peeling off a ghost, when the new girl walks in. She’s a mess, all running snot and smeared mascara, and I’ve got my hands full of wet, writhing pain. My other ghosts, each a discarded moment of loss or fear or heartbreak, press closer. All of them watching with […]
I’m in Hell. That must be what this is. I can’t fathom a god who would possibly interpret this as heaven, crammed in this damned steamer trunk; me and twenty three other Wayang Kulit shadow puppets, entombed with the smell of ox hide and musty bamboo. I dream of a life before this one. A […]
