While getting to know his students, the driving instructor rarely hesitated to delve into his dreams. Dreams were something everyone, no matter what age, could relate to. And it concerned him that he had not, in his forty years of life, dreamt he could fly. It seemed to him the most common dreams were of … Continue reading
Category Archives: flash fiction
The Truth of High School — Ariana Lily Uding
If you stab someone, you should always twist the knife (spear or musket). That way, you can be sure it’s a kill. This is especially important if it’s in the back. Continue reading
My Pet Skeleton — Lindsay Souvannarath
My pet skeleton comes with us to Saks and doesn’t care that he can’t buy anything. He wraps himself up in a big fur coat and hat, and when a salesperson starts watching him, he throws it all off and dances. He hides in the clothing racks and when someone tries to look at the … Continue reading
Prosaic — Emily Weber
My best friend from high school, Nora, is getting married to a man who owns a fireworks stand in Jefferson County, Missouri, which leads me to assume he has a meth lab in his basement, but she informs me that he does not. Just a seven-year-old daughter named Mary Jane, she tells me on the … Continue reading
Termites — Diane Constantine
I stood in the basement, looking up at the floor joist with a flashlight. A small brown tunnel bulged discreetly downward, against the grain of the wood like half of a dun-colored soda-straw. It blended so that if I hadn’t looked for it, I wouldn’t have seen it. My husband is home late from work. … Continue reading
Something Good — R Dean Johnson
Brent only made deals with God when he was in center field, and only between pitches. “Please let me do something good,” he said aloud, far enough out into the grass that he was sure no one could hear him except, of course, God. After his ground out in the first, Brent was ready to … Continue reading
Young Man Pallbearer — Peter Madsen
“I’m taking my mother and my sisters to the Opera and that new Persian restaurant downtown for Aunty Amelia’s birthday tomorrow.” My mother tells me at the dinner table. “Well, aren’t you going to invite the guest of honor?” “Honey.” A pause. “She died last year. You carried the casket. Remember?” “This’ll be your toughest … Continue reading
Free Parking — Ariana Lily Uding
We fuck on the Vespa. Greg tugs my jeans around my ankles, and presses me against Mrs. Schmidt’s garage. The one with the pink handle. The aluminum is chilly against my neck and paint flakes fall in my hair, white specks like dandruff. His arms are train tracks, shaking as he holds me up, but … Continue reading
CB White in Ruth-Anne’s Escape — William “Kobe” Spencer
We’re close to Iowa, so close we’re in it. Ruth-Anne says she knows where we are and I say she doesn’t have to. I park the car outside the tobacconist’s (closed) and load a bowl of aromatic in my corncob. Ruth-Anne says she never smoked a pipe before but her dad does sometimes, in his … Continue reading
Have you ever gone to a carnival and got on a ride with a girl you didn’t know and it should’ve been sketchy but it wasn’t then the ride turned out to be ferocious and made you want to vomit a thousand dragons, but, ironically, your sister threw up when you got home? — Paulina Harrison
Well I have and it was awesome. Continue reading
Coe Review 