Tag: short fiction
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Patches
By Terri Clifton Patches was born with his smile stitched on, if that is what you call being stuffed and stood upright. And even if his smile hadn’t been so carefully sewn, he couldn’t have helped having it upon seeing the sparkling eyes of the child, her curly head hanging over him as he was…
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Desert Oasis
By Kaitlynn McShea March, 1955 The small town was tucked away into the rolling desert landscape. Dirt storms were more common than rain showers, and water was a more valued possession than gold. That’s what the three hundred residents had been told for generations, at least. The gold rush had come to their doorstep and…
Kaitlynn McShea
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A Lion’s Love
By Kaitlynn McShea When Laura Henderson was eleven, her father came home with a lion. It was a California summer day, and blistering, stunning heat filtered through the front door. Laura remembered it being out of character for him: he never came in through the front door, he never came home before nine, and he…
Kaitlynn McShea
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Snow Princess
By Tracey Chizoba Fletcher There was a minute of stunned silence. It was soon followed by the sounds of muffled cries as Mrs. Okoro cupped her hands over her mouth. All the hurts and frustrations she had borne for the past fifteen years of marriage, flowed freely like a faucet turned on. She hadn’t dared…
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Kicks
By Fabiana Elisa Martínez He did not want her to move or to say anything although he knew she would, sooner rather than later. The light from a single lamp in the foreign room was made of copper and yellow tourmaline. The flashes of the far away highway could not disturb them so high in…
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Surfcasters
By Adele O’Grady Botticelli The SUV skidded on the sand, sprinkled like flour on a baker’s board along the tar road, as Jack braked to a stop in front of the grey shingled, rusty-red trimmed gate house. The July sun beat down on his truck as he leaned over to address the woman ranger, sitting…
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Take a Stand
By Kim Bundy Paul finished his ham biscuit and drained his Bloody Mary, even though he wasn’t much of a drinker. He was standing in Gloria’s dining room on the morning of her funeral, hoping the vodka might tame his nerves. He tried to ease out of the room past Jay, Gloria’s older son, who…
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Double Dare
By Jen Pendragon CW: cigarette use “I double dare you”. When she said it, she crossed her arms, because this wasn’t a question or even an idea. It was a command. She stood her ground, like this was her new spot and she wouldn’t be able to move until the challenge was complete. I rolled…
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Spooky Season
By Tiffany Shull Peterson Darla loved Halloween. She waited for autumn equinox each year before allowing herself to drag out her seasonal décor. Spurred by excitement, she hauled boxes, bins, and bags from the cellar to the main floor of her 50’s style bungalow. They were meticulously organized and bore labels from ‘bats and spiders’…
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A Lilac Year
By Christie Cochrell It was a lilac year, their last year of high school, the year Rosa’s mother was dying. All that spring Franny felt lost, left out, unable to get close to Rosa, her oldest and dearest friend. Worse still, she felt resentful too, for all the losses of things slipping past while her…
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Heartland Society of Women Writers 