Category: Short story

  • Can I get a lift?

    Nathanial had a plan. He told me so as I rode in the back of his Ford Fusion, nearing the end of a long day of travel. I’d been on two delayed planes, a short tram, a packed bus to the pickup lot at LAX, and finally jumped in a Lyft back to my house.…

  • The Honeysuckle Lounge

    The honeysuckle bush was busy. A crowd of insects buzzed and gossiped among the buds. A couple here and there shared a flower as the waitress flitted around, and a large group of hummingbirds at the back laughed boisterously. Down in the mound below the bush, the bar was full of the chatter and talk…

  • Wise ol’ Owls

    As I work on the June issue of The Pigeon, here is a story I never posted from the last issue.

  • Coffee trip (short?)

    Every Sunday for the past several months, my sister Theresa has driven an hour and a half to the café she used to work at in Madison, WI, and works the day – in what would normally be the job for three separate baristas. It’s a sweet little coffee shop, connected to a bicycle company…

  • Space Race (short)

    “The red light flashed more insistently, begging for her attention. Ignoring it, she changed gears, pressing down on the throttle – a shutter coursing through her seat.“Come on now,” she cooed through gritted teeth. “One more lap.”Her engine shook again, the port repulsor sputtering as an orange light flared on to join the red warnings…

  • A Glimpse of the Sea (short)

    Since he was a boy, he’d heard tales of the sea. That endless lake that stretched out past the ends of the earth, past imagination, farther than time itself. Folks passed through the mountains every few years saying they’d come from the sea – with strange tales of salt so plentiful it blew in the…

  • On top of the world (short)

    Billy sat on top of the world. Every day he’d climb onto his throne, and gaze down at civilization below him, rearranging and reorganizing the landscape. Day after day he watched the people grow taller, and feel himself rise with them. Week after week, Billy saw further across the earth. The seas and the lands…

  • Boy + Dog (short)

    He ate a measly dinner out of a shallow tin bowl, the dog sitting at the foot of his chair. It took both of them some time to finally reach their fill, and neither of them made to move positions even after they’d done so. They sat for a long time, quiet, listening to the…

  • Coffee Shop Encounter P.1 (short)

    I walked the last block and a half, and into the small coffee shop. The tall front windows let in plenty of light on sunny days, but it was dark and cloudy, and rain and been coming in spats all day. Just as I’d left my apartment, the sky decided it had had a long…

  • Book Signing (short)

    R.J. Simmons was at another book signing for his explosively successful children’s book series, The Kingdom Gates. He had done hundreds of these signings, writing his name over and over on thousands and thousands of books through the last 6 years. He was getting bored of it. And tired too.He shook himself out of his…