Fiction

A solo cover with the title written onto a drawing of a jam jar

Beach Plum Jam (Solo 4.9)

A sudden gust of wind blew strands of Polly Stillman’s brown hair across her face, obscuring her view of the late afternoon sun on Hatch’s Bay. No matter, she didn’t see a composition anyway. In past summers, this scene usually inspired a painting—of beach grass shadows slashing the bright dunes; of a large rock, encrusted…

The Middlegame

Tuesday I’m trying to figure out if you can have two thoughts at once. I mean really think about two things simultaneously, not like be hungry and do math at the same time, which is what I was doing when I originally started wondering in the first place. Focus is my Achilles’ heel. Eric figured…

A solo cover of a pencil drawing of a boy on a plain yellow background

Córdoba Skies (Solo 4.7)

Chapter 1 “Tino, come here,” his mom called him back to her bedside. Tino was on his way out, but stopped. The nurse had been searching for something among medicine bottles on the bedside table and also looked up. “Take care of your dad,” Tino’s mom said. “I will,” he told her and kissed her…

A solo cover of a silhouette of a person's profile filled with pink flowers

Confession (Solo 4.4)

That morning a lamb was born. They’re born a lot and I’m used to it, but still, to hear that tiny bleating from the comfort of my bed. The mother was Cindy, a Katahdin hair sheep of some distinction, one of the older gals, not a nurture natural. I had to get up at three…

A solo cover with a bright geometric pattern of Xs and Os

Adopting Sarajevo (Solo 4.3)

“Let’s ask Dad to drive me. It’s not like he works full-time anymore. And he’s practically begging for our approval.” The fact that Frank had never taken Marina to the orthodontist made him no worse than any other man whose wife ran a corporation while never missing a kid’s appointment, and though the braces were…