Tag Archives: flash fiction

by venusmairena | 03/14/2024 · 5:30 am

Surrender

by Kristi Ferguson

He learned if he could make Mom laugh, everything would be okay.

He relied on that certainty when she discovered him sneaking to the corner store, first for candy, then for beer and cigarettes. He used it when he was months behind on child support after the first unplanned pregnancy, before the DNA results came back and the baby turned out not to be his. It was there again when he admitted to the second baby, which was his, after Mom received a midnight Facebook message from the pregnant ex-girlfriend, telling her everything. Continue reading →

The Gargoyles of il Duomo di Milano

by William Hawkins

Not much troubles the gargoyles of il Duomo di Milano. They feel neither rain nor wind nor the scratch of lichen. They jut into space blind and deaf. Though I have heard they do know the sun, as even light can enter stone. Continue reading →

In Accordance With

by Mandira Pattnaik

When you feel neglected, you should devour your husband instead of starving yourself, instead of wondering what ruins you haunt: says mother when I tell her about a slap, a chipped tooth, about brothers-in-law ogling, about mysterious cold beef and fermented rice beer in the husband’s bag, Continue reading →

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Tagged as Fiction, flash fiction, Hawai'i Pacific Review, Mandira Pattnaik, Short Story

by hipacificreview | 11/02/2023 · 6:50 am

Tavoos

by Jon Doughboy

In the foyer there’s a majolica peacock the size of a punch bowl shimmering inertly and full, stuffed to its decorative brim with nail clippings and you say, as you open its back to show me, “They’re my father’s, he keeps them, I don’t know why, don’t ask me why, he’s disgusting, isn’t he disgusting?” and I don’t have time to respond because this is the first time I’m meeting your parents and your mom is in my face suddenly, Continue reading →

To Gain the World

by Robert Garner McBrearty

My teenage son says that money doesn’t matter, and on one level I get it, but if you’ve ever been short of it, you know it does.

I point out that we stay in nicer hotels now when we travel, and he admits that’s sort of pleasant, though he says, and I know it’s true, that he’d be fine staying in a hostel. In fact, he might prefer it.

We eat at better restaurants now, I tell him, and he says that is enjoyable, but he’d be fine really with just about any grub, beans from a can, maybe some tuna, and again, I know it’s true for him.

But you wouldn’t want to sleep out on the streets, right? Continue reading →

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Tagged as Fiction, flash fiction, Robert Garner McBrearty