MEREDITH WADLEY: From the Swiss side of the Rhine

Flash Fiction by Meredith Wadley The Bells on Her Hem Are Ringing (Turkish: Etekleri zil çalıyor)Back in the early eighties, Dean and I backpacked through Germany. We knew little about it, only that the war of our grandparents lingered, coldly keeping the country divided. In Munich, a woman plucked us off the train station platform, promising us a centrally located room

JOHN YOHE: out in the woods, in the shade and with some elevation

Flash fiction by John Yohe Six Mile Creek   Annoyed, having driven his old pickup with no A/C in hundred degree heat all day, wanting to get south on 89 out in the woods, in the shade and with some elevation and solitude, until southbound traffic out of Livingston slows to stop. He thinks about

DAN CRAWLEY: Changing Everything

Flash Fiction by Dan Crawley LAS CRUCES   Leaving the Mexican restaurant after a long lunch, Lea pushed the heavy wooden door wide open. Brent followed, saying, “All that I mentioned earlier, I’m just trying to…I want to help you.” “New subject,” Lea said. “I think those people are wasted.”   Ahead on the sidewalk

SUSAN TERRIS: The Forbidden Knife

Flash Fiction by Susan Terris What To Do with the White Elephant in the Room  It was a Christmas White Elephant exchange, and I ended up with a devastating floor-length silk nightgown adorned with flowers at the top, which might have concealed the breasts, was nude in color, see-through and looked as if it was

GARY FINCKE: The Road We Lived On

Flash CNF by Gary Fincke  Good Things   The road we lived on was so familiar either one of us could have been speeding, but my friend Chuck Kress was at the wheel when a car backed across both lanes from a roadside garage. Chuck braked hard, the car four-wheel-drifting toward a row of junipers that

SHERRIE FLICK: The Bear And I

Flash Fiction by Sherrie Flick The Bear and I Dance        The bear and I eventually—of course—dance in the street. The streetlights, spotlights. The long, paved road a dancefloor spread wide for our pivoting feet. A misty fog.       Me in my trench coat and heels. The bear heavy and graceful, weighted and assured.

MEG POKRASS: There are these powers that bring me to my knees

 Flash Fiction by Meg Pokrass  After the SIDS Tragedy on the Eight Floor   The baby is standing. They call it orthostasis, I remind Stan. This boy is our pole. Stan, his large nose and floppy smile—agrees and tries not to yell. He squeezes us for a while, then squeezes petite glasses of fresh orange

GLORIA GARFUNKEL: Feeling so pococurante tonight

Flash Fiction by Gloria Garfunkel  Word Hoarder     “How can I learn a new language,” she thought, “until I have completely mastered English?”   What she meant was, so thoroughly mastered English that she knew even the most arcane words. She memorized lists on the internet and on various word calendars daily. Today she

JAN STINCHCOMB: Ours were the cool parents

Flash Fiction by Jan Stinchcomb Ours Were the Cool Parents                 Maybe you were in their classes. They taught Honors English at the high school and were famous for staying slim and good looking after all the other adults had become disgusting. They held hands whenever they walked across campus. My sister and

DAVID GALEF: Love By Other Means

Flash Fiction by David Galef   Interlude with You                 I read good books. I’m right an alarmingly high percentage of the time. But I feel unappreciated, growing more so by the minute. My husband and son have left me. At least for an hour. During that time, I’m holding a conversation with