Short Stories

BARBA YANNIS' SUMMER TENANT by PHILIP J. LEES

"Barba Yannis sat on his porch, his chin on his hands and his hands resting on the polished curved hook of his walking stick."

SAND STORM by CONDA V. DOUGLAS

"I shivered, stunned by the cold of the desert at night. Beneath me the narrow cot swayed. I listened. My firetrap home for the summer creaked and moaned, like an old man dying."

VIDEO NASTY by GEOFF NELDER

"Ron Garvey couldn't help smiling. He wore his passport-waving face at customs in Folkestone but he knew he'd be all right."

THE MAN WHO WAS A DONKEY by MUHAMMAD NASRULLAH KHAN

"Each night for two weeks, I haven't slept. A donkey's eyes torment me. I saw the donkey on the way home, in the darkness of a solitary street, one front leg broken, not able to move. I tried to avoid its glance, The donkey's head lifted and the eyes begged attention, for they bore a remarkable resemblance to Hussani Powely's."

UNCOVERING MUM by ELLIOT QUINN

"Rennie McQuaid fell from his tortured slumber with an agonizing jolt, his pillow drenched with sweat, drool and tears. Switching on his bedside lamp, he squinted at the picture of his late wife."

DESERT STORM by G. MIKI HAYDEN

"The attack was sudden. One minute, Karen had settled her helicopter on the tarmac at Dhahran, had checked in and out with the captain on duty, and, the next, as she walked into the hot sun to wait for the circulating bus, a strong arm had grabbed her around the throat."

MARY'S HOUSE by DAWN WINGFIELD

"It was a bleak and beautiful day, naked trees stark against a broody sky. It would snow later, and Mary Hatch smiled, imagining the snowflakes gently dancing down onto her house tonight, the hot cup of tea she would brew before settling down to watch a television show of her choice."

IN LOCO PARENTIS by ELAINE McPHERSON

"Melissa just stared as the kettle’s rising steam made the ink on the message board start to run. First to go were in-service days and parents’ evenings, whose yellow was joined in a greeny confluence by the blue of bank holidays. Then the washable red which charted her monthly flow began to loosen. Soon a purple rivulet was heading downwards with increasing momentum."

CHRISTOPHER EARLY by TOM STERNERHOWE

"Christopher likes to wake up early. He presses the red button on the coffee maker so Mommy’s coffee will be ready when she gets out of bed. He goes to the cupboard and gets his favorite bowl.

It has a smiley face in the bottom and ‘Christopher’ written in cursive on the side. It’s kinda crooked cause he made it himself last year in the second grade."

THE WOMAN WHO HAD EVERYTHING by KIMBERLY R. BROWN

"Even though she willed them not to, Veronica Wilcox's eyes darted to her watch, then back to the door of the steakhouse.

He was only thirty minutes late. For Dexter Allen, that was hardly late at all."

DROWN HIM AND BE DONE WITH IT by ACE BOGGESS

"Uninvited, they came to all her parties: first the flare-up, then the flood. Cheyenne 's hedonistic friends would be scattered throughout her apartment—some in the smoking room, some in the booze-and-snacks room, the vomiting room, or the talking-loudly-while-folks-watch-a- DVD room. "

ROSE AND MRS HIGGINS by SALLY QUILFORD

"No one can get in, Terence had said before he left for Australia. He's very proud of our walled garden. In one part of the wall was a gate, to which only Terence had the key. Meaning that no one could get out either."

WALKING HOME by DONNA GAGNON

"After three days of cloud and rain, the sun has risen in a clear spring sky. A woman stands on Wendell’s dock. She casts no shadow on this morning early in April."

NOT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE by ANNE BROOKE

"The office is a mysterious place, full of sound and fury. Yes, it is. And we all fear it. Though some, the lucky ones, survive it. You don’t agree? Then let me tell you my story."

THE BEGGAR by JOHN ASHLEY

THE BEGGAR

BY JOHN ASHLEY

"It was quite a while before I had the feeling that I knew him."

Excerpts copyright of individual authors.