Skuen and his younger brother Kadir stood near the end of a hundred-foot-long wall of peat blocks. With L-shaped spades, they cut out neat bricks of peat, looking like rich chocolate cake, and stacked them to dry in the wind. They worked the bogs year-round, with little change to their day other than the amount … Read moreChocolate Cake
Hansel eyed the compost bucket on the counter in the break room. A few fruit flies twirled above it, caught in each other’s gravity. “Just tell me what you know!” The flies continued their dance, unperturbed by Hansel’s outburst. He stomped back to his corner office with twenty-foot walls of glass. He could see two … Read moreOn The Fly
Carl carefully measured the depth of each seed he planted. “Knuckle one, knuckle two, planting seeds is what you do,” he said as he poked his index finger into hundreds of holes. The perfect width and depth of the hole was precisely the distance from the tip of his finger to the middle joint. Working … Read moreSweet Obsession
Dozens of dangerous people wanted Helen dead. She ratted them out to save her father, a top crime boss cursed with six daughters and no sons. He hoped for a boy to carry on the family business but had to settle for Helen. Born fourth in line, Helen had no taste for girly things. She … Read moreFamily Values
Teddy was typing at top speed–just over ten words per minute. He feared an error that may cause him to start over by melting his block of letters. Fifteen months on the linotype and he was no faster than the day he began, but he seldom made a mistake. In the time he could complete … Read moreOperator Error
“How’s his mood tonight?” The sword swallower asked, nervously fiddling with his knives and blades. “Does it matter? Do your act, get the hell off the stage, and be grateful,” the juggler lamented. “It beats digging potatoes out in the snow.” “How’s the Fool doing? Many laughs?” the swallower asked. “I hear laughing, but it … Read moreYour Leg Should be Breaking
Squatting in the dark a mile underground, a feeble headlight her only illumination, Rene fiddled with a coffee can and double boiler. She leased time from a mining company to dig up cinnabar to smelt into mercury. The mining company needed mercury to extract gold, but mercury mining was illegal. Both the mercury and the … Read moreShimmery Deliverance
Andrew wiped off his hooves, considering himself in the floor-length, bathroom mirror. “Perhaps some antlers, for balance. Reindeer could work.” Andrew implanted horse hoof stem cells where his feet had been. Some replaced fingernails with talons, others chose bear fur head-to-toe. Alligator skin for some, fly eyes for a few, many chose prehensile tails or … Read moreProgress in a Fashion
Cloth in hand, Donnie cleaned every bottle and lamp. He spent his days at thrift stores, dusting the shelves of discarded bric-a-brac. Clerks nodded hello and left him alone. Born into an uneasy home, Donnie’s differentness increased the strain. His father looked for someone to blame, noticed his wife, and never came home. For decades, … Read moreAnother One Bites the Dust
Galen’s cigarette dimmed as his boozy brain struggled to calculate the tip. Julie, drunk and already wearing her jacket, wobbled as she waited on spiked heels. Her barbs at dinner now the usual course. Galen ignored it. No point in fighting. The pen slipped from his greasy fingers and reaching for it, he noticed his … Read moreUse Caution Near the Exit