Fiction

Fake Food

For as long as she could remember, Phyllis had sat at the front of the classroom. Whenever the teacher posed a question, her hand reached highest. Phyllis could remember the name of every teacher she’d ever had. … Read the whole text

A Man, a Fender and a Duck Walk into a Bar

 
There wasn’t a single person in the bar who did not forget what Teddy Roundman looked like. A big man, they all said, all who were in … Read the whole text

Art in the Park           

Spring, Ontario, 1953.

“Greetings,” Raith said.
“Hello,” said a middle-age, gray-haired, slightly portly man, carrying much camping gear.
“You look prepared to be out here, but I am just wondering … Read the whole text

1973: The visitors

Rory has one knee on the floor, the other tucked under his chin as he paints. His canvas is propped on two milk crates set over newspaper laid out to protect the floor. His paint tubes … Read the whole text

The Sunflower King 

(after The Roses of Heliogabalus, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema [Engand, b. Netherlands] 1888 )

The slave girl dipped her slim fingers into the white unguent and spread it around the bruises rimming the boy’s eyes. He … Read the whole text

Golden Ears 

Jonah stared at the leather recliner and imagined she was still sitting there, listening to the Urlicht movement of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, her eyes closed, a shock of reddish brown hair tucked behind each ear. He pictured … Read the whole text