Fiction

6 Micro Stories

Translated from the Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan Harmony Dreams may be the soul’s Autocorrect, but one man dreamt he was sitting in a fridge, freezing and waiting for someone to open the door. Before his savior’s identity was revealed, he woke up in complete darkness and was surprised to find it was only 3 a.m….

Unhappy Christmas Tree

An old woman believes that her Christmas tree wants to get married. Her caretaker says: —No, it’s just a tree. See? Come here! Feel it! The old woman feels a branch. —Oh, you’re right, it is a tree. But the old woman is still worried. —But inside…inside, there is a woman who wants to come…

The Blueblack Cold

I went to my father’s room in the back hall of the boarding house. The door was open a little, and I could see he was asleep. An old sheet was pulled up to his neck, and he lay looking at the white ceiling with his eyes closed, breathing softly. His foot stuck out at…

Some of Us Are Gone

None of us are gone. You may call us gone. You may moan. You may dash from the places where you would sit and you thought we wouldn’t find you. You mourn our loss, we know. You walk on the floorboards of the house as if you were alone, eyeing every corner. Your habits stay…

Fresh Water from the Sea

The woman was weeks away. Maybe even days away. The phone calls at first were difficult to understand. “You shouldn’t worry about this, but I’m getting thinner,” she said to her daughter, but instead of the note of excitement the girl expected, the woman sounded lost. “There’s less of me.” The girl imagined an old…

Eleven Stories

Translated from the Arabic by the author and C. J. Collins Peace Agreement Strong and Weak signed a peace agreement; Weak had the document framed in a gold frame and hung it in the front room of his house. He called a press conference to publicize the event with photographs and articles. He considered it…

No Damage

The sky was still dark when Trung Ngoc woke to a tap on her shoulder. She had been dreaming. In her dream, she was riding her brother’s bicycle from her village in Vo Cuong to the nursing school in Hanoi. The endless dirt road and the heat had put her in a trance. When she…