Sundays at the Zoo

…her white paper parasol with pink cherry blossoms printed on it raised it above her head, Cybill walked past the line of those standing at the ticket booth and pushed her way through the revolving metal bars and entered the zoo. Going past the swans sitting in the dark gray water of the pond she acknowledged them with a quick nod, and then did the same with the giraffes standing at the fence of their pen as she passed…

By Steve Carr

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Waltz Of The Mothers

A boy's mother leaves him to move in next door, and the boy discovers a hidden side of his mother.

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…into her window at night. She waltzes to Tchaikovsky. How graceful she is, moving from one corner to another, arms outstretched, legs moving in tandem. Is she thinking about childhood? She dreamed of being…

By Yash Seyedbagheri

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Not All Memories Are Good

…we arrived it was already time for the fourth race of the day. The race we wanted to see was still an hour away. Someone at his workplace gave my dad a tip, so we were checking it out. The pari-mutuel windows were manned, but an obviously inebriated man was being escorted from window number 6. He was shouting obscenities while claiming he had been in line to place a bet before the allotted time had…

By Robert L. Scarry

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Outta' My Window

Today's views stir yesterday's memories.

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…out of my window I realized it might not be pretty, but there was a lot of good to be said. The sky had a pseudoglow grey tint with a hint of pending snow. Not likely, I reasoned, it appeared cold, but the temperature was holding at fifty-one …

By Robert L. Scarry

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What Separation Sounds Like

…had to go away. It was not forever. Mama told the rest of them to stay inside until she came home. Lucia watched them get in the taxi and thought that Cecilia would like a ride in a taxi. The rest were watching TV, but no one sang along with the commercials. Lucia heard Cecilia ask Mama why she was crying, and then left the window to sit in Sofia’s lap. She was warm. A car’s engine hummed and gravel…

By Christina Rauh Fishburne

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A Matter of Conscience

…flashback review of activities for the past year following acceptance as director thereby assuming responsibility for administering the department indicated at the time he accepted the challenge those responsibilities were nebulous. In retrospect, he neither knew the responsibilities nor did he have an unshakable intent to fulfill them. Only the title, Director, and the associated pay check were…

By Robert L. Scarry

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Bredica

…the head-end of the coffin, a candle which was supposed to burn for the next two or three nights flickered nervously in the same rhythm as the eyelid of an elderly woman who sat there in prayer. And a glass of water with a marking of the water level to check the next morning if the dead had drunk from it or not, stood on a…

By Edward Schmidt-Zorner

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Inka’s Curse Part 37

…looked at my extensive wounds. I can't stand this. Not again. Titan is here too turned away. Deja vu. She had a loaded backpack like me. Hers was filled with pouches of elixirs. She uncorked a pouch. She dribbled it over my severest wound. I carefully looked at her impressive collection curiously while carefully trying to distract myself from the considerable…

By Cristina Collazo

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Something To Think About...

…grew up fine. Things weren't as fun once I reached the teen years. Dad drank. Mom complained of abuse. And year upon year, I became more and more aware of how much unfairness and cruelty there was in the world. I became aware of the evil within myself. I was scared and agitated. Generalized anxiety and sleep paralysis disturbed my days and…

By Oscar Martinez

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Desperado

…had given him a “life extension” by granting him a small pension for his time in the Navy and as a compensation for a deadly disease they’d given him (which they’d never admit; but, which they did cure…); yet, during the last three years of that life extension, he’d had to have an artery in his neck repaired and was now taking two nasty drugs to, perhaps, keep him from having another…

By Alexander Zoltai

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