When the thread was severed, we were there, at that place which had been to me or maybe to you too as frightening and eerie as all other places. As such, I have the impression that I resemble the man who, on an inauspicious afternoon, gets into a taxi with a bearded man who keeps pushing him, “write about you and me,” but who instead notes,
I only write about people who you may or may not know in the future.
Fiction
Papa’s Red Money Box
by Rashmi Agrawal
Our eyes would be fixed on the box, hoping to get a fleeting peek inside. Would its touch be steely? Or had smooth feel of those notes? We couldn’t imagine if it were heavy like Maa’s salt container or feathery like ghee’s.
The Tree
by Zhe Zhang
translated from the Chinese by Xiaoming Shan
What a place, nothing but for some bare rocks. A stark mountain, literally.
Turn Around
by Ariel Kay
Queen Maud Gulf, Nunavut, Canada April 28th, 38°F, wind: 15 m.p.h. “You’re the expert, Lydia,” Scott says as they stare out at the expanse of Arctic sea. Where there were supposed to be sleek sheets of ice, there’s now mostly slush. “What now?” Scott’s nose and cheeks are red, a bad mix of cold and […]
When the Bough Breaks
by Lesley Bannatyne
I am watching my daughter nursing the baby. She is incandescent, my daughter, like a Renaissance Madonna. Her skin is alabaster and her hair haloes in the sunlight that slips through the kitchen window and slides off the bones of her face. It’s the gorgeous hair some women get while pregnant—mine grew six inches during […]
Gin
by Kate Faigen
Mom and Dad are in the basement playing gin. “Your deal,” Dad says. Mom pours Tanqueray into one of the milk cups we used as children. “GIN,” she shouts, slamming it down.
Newlyweds by Miklós Vámos
translated from the Hungarian by Ági Bori
Newlyweds Four passengers occupied the narrow, second-class coach of the train bound for Lake Balaton. A young man, a young woman, an old-age pensioner, and a middle-aged goose. They formed two pairs: the dewy-eyed newlyweds were on their way to their honeymoon, while the second pair headed to a wedding. As for the goose, he […]
Mind’s Eye
by Michael Pearce
“A simple description, Lewis, that’s all I’m asking.” He bangs that ridiculous cane on the floor, thunk thunk. Vertical strokes meant as punctuation, little jabs to splash some color on his words. Only sometimes the jabs get loud, angry. “Is that too much for you?” He says it with a giggly quaver to let me […]
Icarus by Vraiux Dorós
translated from the Spanish by Toshiya Kamei
Don’t under any circumstances read this book, I said to myself.
And the world was created.
Izokumi by Alexy Dumenigo
translated from the Spanish by Toshiya Kamei
Izokumi For casualties and survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki It began with a flash. A chalky light filled every corner of the small hospital room and pierced the girl’s closed eyelids. Her nightmares that had haunted her since the night before faded as she woke. However, the intense light around her prevented her from opening […]
