The line at the funeral parlor led out the front door, around the side, and down the street for three blocks and was composed primarily of men who had come to pay their respects. The civilian men wore a white shirt, dark jacket, dark pants, and a white name tag that read either First or Last. The military and ex-military wore their uniforms; they honored Shyloh with the same white name tag neatly affixed to cover all the...

  MARTIN HANDED A MUG of fresh coffee to Jane and slid into the seat opposite her at the breakfast table, pausing a moment before he spoke. “Jane, I need to ask you something.” Caught off guard by the statement, she slopped a little of the steaming liquid. “You always do that when I’m holding a drink,” she chided gently, dabbing the spill with a napkin. Her lighthearted tone belied the knot in her stomach, which was quite...

  THE CALENDAR TAUNTED JANE, its little yellow-highlighted square outlined in a bold red stroke mocking her lack of progress. ‘You’re going to miss the deadline, you know. I’m just six weeks away now,’ it scoffed. ‘Whatever made you apply for that fellowship anyhow, and what could the panel have been thinking when they gave it to you? You’re no writer; you’ve proven that over the past ten and half months.’ She glared at i...

After I obtained my driver license, my father and mother independently counseled me about sex. The talks were embarrassing but when done, they both had let me know their expectations about teenage sexual behaviors. Later, when I compared myself with other kids, I was glad I had my parents. The other kids had no freedoms and no boundaries. I had both. The other kids were confused about what was acceptable but I wasn’t. Oth...

Grandpa awoke with tears in his eyes. He knew something was wrong and it saddened him. He sucked air through the nose mask. The CPAP machine hissed. The air that did not go into his lungs escaped through the tiny holes at the junction of the air tube and the mask. "Shhhh." The forced air hissed at him to be silent. The positive air pressure breathed with Grandpa and prevented him from snoring but it could not prevent his...

As a blanket of grey swept beneath the sun, Betty’s heart pounded. She knew the thing was fast approaching, it ran almost twice as fast as she did. Her mind was conflicted, at this point, she had ran so far, what was the point of running any further. Should she keep going, or stop taking in the air and let the creature consume her. There had been so much leading up to this, so many wrong choices, so many right ones. Fear...

I first became aware of them when I was eighteen years old. The voices in my head began to clamor for control of me and it scared me. Metaphorically speaking, they carried pitchforks. They wanted to kill me or run me out of town. My voices had faces. Angry faces. Shouting faces. They had noses, eyes, and hair. Some had shaking fists directed at me. Others simply pressed forward invading my personal space, crowding me. Lit...

The Twin Otter came to a stop, after taxiing at Christchurch International, and all aboard let out an explosive sigh of relief. Sean Regan went forward to speak to the flight crew. “Well done guys and thanks; but let’s not do that again huh?” “You got that right brother,” said Dickie Peters, the pilot, “that was one rough ride. Don’t think we’ve ever had a rougher, do you Smithy?” “Nope, and I’m not in a hurry to try one...

Gordon Curzon was a veteran of many fierce commercial negotiations and boardroom battles.  He was at ease with heads of state, and finance ministers, and held in very high esteem by corporate bankers and lawyers.  He was a decisive and confidant man.  He was also a man of his word, with a very high sense of personal honour and corporate ethics, he subscribed to the motto ‘Dictum meum pactum.’ “I don’t think I have ever in...

Uncle Jeff called them bear berries. That hadn't sounded right to Terrance. Now, so many years later, he recalled that long ago moment and curiosity finally lead him to search online. It didn't take long to find a picture of them. They were salmon berries. That was the succulent fruits he had found growing thickly and profusely on the briars out in the woods so long ago. He couldn't even remember the taste of them. Just t...

Any time of year in the south is normally hot, but the summer I turned eighteen, was as if Hades himself had come up from his depths and brought with him the skin scorching, water vaporizing torment to lay to waste on our little South Carolina town. I remember that summer with vivid detail as it was the summer my life would be drastically changed forever, and find a different course then what I’d mapped out for it as a ki...

  The bus ride over to the museum was as painful as a tooth extraction without the laughing gas. Kids who were nearing adulthood acted like two year olds on Red Bull, bouncing in their seats, yelling at one another, popping gum, running down the aisle playing musical seats, ignoring the shouts from the teachers. We were on our last outing of our senior year, not that anyone cared. Most complained about going because who,...

The lion strode proudly from the bush into the open tundra. Unafraid of being seen. The shoulder high grass failing to hide his massive mane. He canted his head as a scent in the air told him she was near. A small throaty growl gives notice that he is aware. She weaves her way through the dense undergrowth. Darting in and out of cover. Her thick bushy tail held low as she prowled and rising in full plumage each time she s...

He hated his boss, ‘hated’ her. He always felt oppressed in his job, psychologically bullied because she simply took a dislike to him. He seemed to be the type of person whom, to her, was instantly dislikeable. It was not her who had hired him, so she had no choice but to accept him as an employee. He wondered if she was trying to find a way to dismiss him but then thought that perhaps she enjoyed tormenting him because h...

My story begins the day my father died. He was my friend,my mentor, but first and foremost my wonderful loving father. He tried to teach me all about the pains of the world. He would talk every day and he had the patience of Job. He could be funny and very strict. He had to be with 5 children, me being the oldest. We would watch baseball and the fights together.the other's were not as close to him as I was. At times even...