I’ll Give You a Reason


via American Short Fiction https://ift.tt/3C9TP3N

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Billboard by Hannah Ratner

Image
A married couple are eager to start a family, but what will it take? Image generated with OpenAI There's a new billboard up on the Turnpike. "Your Mommy Makeover Awaits!" it announces. "Liposuction, Tummy Tuck. 888.888NJPS newjerseyplasticsurgery.com." On it is a very blonde and athletic-looking woman in a white bikini, winter scarf, and one of those furry hats with the ear flaps. They're called Ushankas, apparently - I look it up when I get stuck in traffic. Derived from the Russian word ushi , which means ears. It's a strange combination, the bathing suit and the winter wear, but I guess that's how these ads get your attention. I'm driving home from my job at the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is on. The contestant's doing pretty well, three for three so far. I look up and this woman in her Ushanka is giving me eyes. She looks pretty good, if I'm being honest, and I start thinking abou...
Read more

The Trout and the Lonely Woman by Stephen Myer

Image
A broken woman finds an unusual source of companionship in the shape of an ugly fish she bought from the market. Image generated with OpenAI Ahimsa Fiorskaya wanted nothing to do with people, because they lied - or chose not to tell the truth. They greeted her during the coldest, dreariest mornings, telling her how delightful the weather was and that she should stroll in the warm sunshine and bring color to her pallid cheeks. Or, they looked forward to dancing with her at the village festival though she could hardly walk, let alone dance because her right leg suffered damage at an early age. Even worse, they assured her that a handsome prince from a faraway land would arrive in the village and sweep her off her good foot. I am done with all of it, she thought. I will not waste my time listening to their nonsense. One day, the lonely woman, who lived on the banks of the Rushing River in the village of Sazloni, walked into the local fish market. As she eyed the large select...
Read more

Yield by Kristi Nimmo

Image
After years of mixed feelings about her family's history, recent divorcee Leonie reads the diary of her Belgian coal-mining grandmother. Image generated with OpenAI I knew I could have gone into the coal mine, like other women before me, but it was a dirty place. Outside of the mine, coal dust escaped from a steady flow of transportation trucks, and it was stirred up when ground was dynamited to get at the coal seams. The dust drifted over the town, dirtying everything in sight, then sifted into the houses. Curtains and wallpaper were cobwebbed with the potentially explosive powder that could also contain silicates and sulfur oxides. Coal being friable, the dark powder was unavoidable inside the mine, and to prevent disastrous fires, rock dust, such as gypsum and limestone, which didn't cake when wet, was applied to surfaces, diluting the possibility that powdered coal suspended in air might ignite. If mining took place on the surface of a mountaintop, the distu...
Read more