Archive for about 100 words
Roscoe
Roscoe hates the golf carts most of all. They’re sneaky. He doesn’t hear them until they hum past the house, and then it’s too late to sound the alarm. Now those rattling, clattering diesels, he hears them soon as they turn onto his street, so he has three blocks’ worth of barking before they get […]
Fairy Light
It rained most of the day, sustained and heavy, soaking the dry ground until puddles stood ankle-deep in the thick St. Augustine grass. By evening a towering thunderhead dominated the east, and clearing skies in the west left the sun to bathe the massive white cloud in pink and gold, creating a light found mostly […]
1st Marines
Mr. Travis lied about his age, and turned eighteen on Guadalcanal. When he got off that hell-hole of an island, he wore his trousers, long since frayed into shorts, his helmet and boots, and his dog tags. He had the same carbine the Marines had given him, and it took a little slip of a […]
Red Shoes
On the first day of class she wore red shoes. On the fifteenth day of class she wore red shoes, and every day in-between. He saw only one pair repeated, the canvas Keds. His mother wore the same shoes, and he’d always thought of them as old ladies’ shoes, but he couldn’t have been more […]
The Bride
Jiang Li cried herself to sleep on her wedding night. Not quietly, though. Her anguished sobs reverberated throughout the prince’s quarters, and by morning there was no one in the palace who didn’t know she had begged the prince to send her back to her father and mother. She died in childbirth, nine months later, […]
Monogram
Qi Quinella Cruz was the fifth daughter of Gen. Martin Cruz, of El Paso, and Dr. Chang Shan from Singapore. On the rainy afternoon that Quentin Quarles stumbled into Ella at the coffee stand, a hush fell over the noisy street (“like angels walking by,” said the barista,). Apologizing, Quentin introduced himself to Ella, splattered […]
Latrine Duty
“Private Hickman!” Captain thundered, “You have spent more time burning latrines since you’ve been in-country than you ever did carrying a gun on patrol. I never saw a bigger screw-up than you, and I thought I’d seen em all. Gunny here wants me to send you to the stockade forever. What in hell are you […]
Day of Reckoning
“When the day of reckoning comes,” she muttered, “I hope the fella who decided the bread should be on one side of the store, and the milk should be on the other side, gets tossed into the lake of fire.” At the checkout, an acne-tormented youth asked if everything was ok. “I’d like to know,” […]