*****Tiaras sparkle in the golden light of Array of Wonders Antique Shop. There’s an entire selection dripping with realistic-looking gems. They’re about $20 each in silver, gold, bejeweled with shiny plastic emeralds and rubies, and as she inspects each one, Samantha reminds herself she has never wanted a tiara before, never competed in beauty contests, […]
A bloated body moans and writhes on the lawn outside my house, pressing its face to my windows and howling at me when I go to my car. She screams and tears at her scraggly hair and sends my soul to pieces. She is what I have to face each day, without rest, and the
The sun stings the streets blocked off for the festival. I feel the soles of my shoes sticking slightly to the asphalt, melting on impact. No threat of rain hangs in the air. I’m out in the open, with no hope of shade, and nighttime is a long way off. My family’s in the balcony
On paths lined with last fall’s brittle leaves, we walk to the edge of our property where we first kissed: under the tall oak, near the creek. We clear the leaves and sit on the grass that pokes through. Just before us, mushroom-flesh charred cups, turned upright, push their stems through a decaying limb. The
