SWEET PEA by Thomas Mundt I have Sweet Pea on hold. She needs a moment to collect her thoughts, and her bills. They are voluminous, the lion’s share issued by her aromatherapist, and keeping track of them has almost become a full-time job. Which is good, because Sweet Pea has been between gigs since conception. … [Read more…]
THE END OF THE COLD WAR by L.S. Bassen 25th December 1989. Leonard Bernstein gave a concert in Berlin celebrating the collapse of the Wall, conducting the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s ninth symphony, altering the lyric “Joy” (freude) to “Freedom” (freiheit). Rain hit the house as Cara stood snug by the front bay window, … [Read more…]
VOLUNTEERS By John-Henry Doucette A few nights before the O’Connells held their first and only pig roast, I named a ship I served aboard long before I retired as a corpsman and landed my hospice job here in Poughkeepsie. The mention came in passing, amid a wildly unstructured discussion of our troubles with Arabs, but … [Read more…]
PAPERWEIGHT By Nick Fatuzzo “Alright, listen up, you bastards!” I’m ten years old, and my best friend, Jonathan, has picked up his most recent favorite word from one of his parents’ arguments. It’s summer, and all the neighborhood kids are out. The five of us are sitting in the dry-rotted, wooden gazebo on our cul-de-sac. … [Read more…]
Winner of the 2013 Tiny Chair in Writing TROntest, #TROnTinyChair.