Short Story
The Richmond
Mama and Baba refused to leave our foggy little Chinese hamlet. Although they had traveled across the world, now they would no longer travel east of Arguello Boulevard.
The Bereavers at the Crying Competition
The MC introduced each contestant, and at the end, said that that year’s grief counselors in black would like to be called the Bereavers. He mispronounced it as the Beliebers, and the audience laughed, because they are American, and have no idea what Bereaver could mean.
Where is the Sun?
Naomi woke up at dusk. The sky was on fire—all shades of orange and pink with thin strips of blue throughout. A sunset like this used to be few and far between, but recently every single one looked this way—like the last sunset ever. She opened her bedroom window. Having spent the day pent up […]
Half Life
2016 The burial is a quiet one, mum made sure. Only 7 people are in attendance—dad, mum, Iye (dad’s mother), Tochi (Olivia’s husband), our parish priest, Aituari (Olivia’s best friend) and me. Sadness sags loosely around all of us, in our eyes, from our black clothes. Dad is holding my mum tightly around her waist […]
The Other Mother
Patti never mentioned her own daughter. I realized she was a little broken too, like the rest of us. She had a tender point she hid from us, from me: the enemies.
The Dead and Other Unchosen Things
We only used this table for special occasions, for Christmas and New Year’s and birthdays. And for the dead.
belowground
Emmitt is kidnapped and imprisoned by the Aboveground military police while stealing water for his Belowground community, and his four best friends use ancestral magic to try and rescue him.
Mae and Me
The two years after Daniel’s disappearance felt like a decade. My colleagues and students couldn’t decide whether to treat me like a widow or divorcée. Mae treated me like neither.
Dusty Secrets and Sleights of Hand
She whispered his words, trying to rekindle the magical spell Hubert had placed over her mother that day. Ruth hated him for doing what she couldn’t. He left.
Breaking and Entering for Would-Be Marine Biologists
“Yes, there are still whales, there are still haddock, crabs, seals. Their hearts beat, muscle and sinew unaltered by steel scale or steam-powered fins. For now, anyway.”