New Times / Special Issue

55 Fiction

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Windows of Thought

John hated looking through the dirty window. He had started to hate his existence. Day in and day out he was a slave to the working clock. He’d had enough. He opened the 50th story window and jumped through.

After he was inside, he told his boss that his days of window washing were through.

Kevin Davis

Hartland, WI

Bad Choice

The gun was so close I could have stuck my nose in the barrel. Cold sweat mixed with warm urine that snaked between goose bumps down my leg. I ran; I ran until my lungs swelled and oozed. But I left her in the alley. She probably won’t want a second date after that.

Ron Ingaway

San Luis Obispo

The Doe

Father brought the dead doe into our backyard, strung her from the deck by the hooves, neck suspended, mouth open as if bleating. He was careful to separate coat from tissue; blood down her belly, legs. At dinner, I saw purple stains under his fingernails. Father, who flew me to bed, who checked bathwater temperature.

Leslie St. John

San Luis Obispo

Onward and Upward

She was nothing if not an accomplished rock climber.

Strong and lithe, she honed her considerable skills, each time setting her sights on ever-greater heights.

When she grew bored of scaling the local topography she gathered her things and headed off, traveling the world in search of new conquests, each diamond bigger than the next.

Pat Rigley

Woodland

Not Only in New Guinea

I step into the chicken coop. Nine pairs of beady eyes turn to me expectantly. The chickens race to the trough as soon as last night’s dinner is emptied. They begin pecking furiously. Black beans, churros, and arroz con pollo. They don’t know, my mother reassures. I insist it’s trickery of the worst kind.

Mackenzie Morrison

Hartland, Wisconsin

What They Say is True

So ... to make a long story short ... she waltzed her way through most of life (all by herself) partly on basic (very basic) good looks and partly on a strong, healthy body. With time, the good looks faded and the healthy body weakened. Now she’s learning to tango. It does, by the way, take two.

Sybil Ashley

Los Osos

Five Lasagnas, One Call

She cooks lasagna when avoiding something she doesn’t want to do, something important, necessary, painful. She’s made lasagna five times in the past two weeks. I savored the first one. The second one tasted better than the first. The third, fourth, and fifth I couldn’t swallow. Soon she’ll have to make the doctor’s appointment.

Sue Ann Horan

Austin, Texas

So Long, World

While walking along, eyes to the sky, I slipped, tumbling down this well. Fright came and went, but the dark stayed all day, until I came to embrace it. When offered a rope, I decided, saying, “Nay, but do be a dear and bring me some wine and a woman with whom to enjoy it.”

Mina Fada

San Luis Obispo

A Cry for Help

Tony found the note slipped under his door:

Come tonite before he gets home.

My life may depend on it.

Margo

Such careless penmanship, the vulgarized “tonite.” What were they teaching these days? Tony crumpled the paper, then tossed it into the wastebasket. Later while driving to work, he wondered who Margo was.

Paul Alan Fahey

Nipomo

Sometimes, the Decision Just Makes Itself

“Think about our future,” Jerome had begged her, and all through dinner, Janet did. Somewhere between his mother’s disappointed, “We had always hoped Jerome would enter the priesthood,” and her delighted, “I’m sorry, Dear, Jerome didn’t tell us you were a vegetarian,” Janet decided.

“Didn’t Jerome tell you? I write porno novels. I’m Vivian Vavavoom.”

Ron Pearson

West Hartford, CT

Numbers

Sanjay was in the hospital on a defibrillator. He was the number one math genius in the world, and I, second.

I mentioned, “Your room is a dull number: 1472.”

“No,” Sanjay replied. “It’s the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in different ways.”

Unplugging his defibrillator, I said, “Enough is enough.”

Michael T. Chambers

San Luis Obispo

Free fall

His world became bright outside, winter dark inside, with no spring to bridge the two. Only tumbling in a perpetual fall. His life narrowed to a series of breaths floating in free fall, as peaceful as he’d ever been, until the rope snapped taut and his feet came up just short of the ground.

Edward P. Morgan III

Seminole, Florida

The Search

They gloomily walked the streets of the little tourist town. They found chestnut tarts, goat cheese popovers, and marzipan muffins. When they stopped for a drink, she ordered a decaf caramel macchiato. He ordered a small coffee. “Is it unreasonable to want to enjoy my vacation?” he said. “All I want is a decent donut.”

Holly Frank

San Luis Obispo

The Helper

Eunice fidgeted as her sister continued.

“No one ever tells me anything. I could have helped with Dad, but didn’t know he’d fallen.”

“Well, Jen—”

“And I only missed the funeral because George got pneumonia. You know I’m happy to help—”

“Jen, I called because Mom’s got Alzheimer’s and needs constant care. It’s your turn.”

Rob Weibe

Rocky River, Ohio

Abode

I hate my place. It’s so small, and it leaks every time it rains. Shoddy workmanship. But it’s the bugs. They’re the worst. I can’t seem to escape them. I can’t exactly call anyone, though. Even if I could, exterminators wouldn’t come near the place. Really, though, the blame is mine. I could’ve chosen cremation.

Bill MacAulay

Hartland, MI