Maude sat in the stuffy broom closet and listened to the conversation out in the hallway. She cracked the door ever so slightly to watch the action unfold. Clyde and Emma stopped talking. They were locked in a silent showdown. Their toes and noses touched, but it didn't look like a tender, intimate moment to…

The man across the aisle smelled of boiled asparagus. It was not a good sign. I was in fear of the journey before the train pulled out of the station. Once we'd gotten underway, the stench, combined with constant motion, jogged images hidden at the back of my brain. It was the dream from the…

She ate nothing but grapefruit and sunflower seeds, yet Lettie's clothes no longer fit. No fat, no flour, no fun. It flummoxed her how 15 pounds could have crept up and wrapped fleshy tentacles around her belly. Lettie looked in the full-length mirror and sobbed. Chunky and frumpy were not the results she expected from…

The Gardens was hard to find. People stood in lines outside the wrong building all the time. We got there as the beer man pulled up. Snuck in behind him. The club was flooded. Cables were all over the floor in puddles of piss and rainwater. We laughed about getting electrocuted. We didn't laugh when…

The envelope didn't fit. The slot was too narrow. Amanda cursed her inability to get to the point, keep things short, say what she meant to say. Most of the letter was an apology. Well, mostly a long explanation why she wasn't coming to Easter dinner, and then the apology. Work was hell. Two of…

Peter is trapped inside a Monday of indeterminate length. Each floor of the fortress entices with its own formula for survival. It is difficult to know which corridor needs footsteps, but Peter accepts what cannot be retracted. He sees red and yellow doors line the halls. Now is not the time to run. What is…

It's difficult for Aunt June to concentrate. She has a hell of a time remembering where she's supposed to be. There is always a doctor's appointment, or a Thanksgiving dinner lurking around every corner. Aunt June often remarks how she feels like she's running in place, though she manages to make an appearance wherever her…

Tough luck, Mr. Cluck. Respect was hard to get after you'd been violated with a bouquet garni. You arrived on a Sunday, cleaned and dressed, and no one cared about your cooped up life. All you ever wanted was to roam the range; have a roost to call your own. It is cruel that dreams…

"It is the best way to get your name out there, you know." Jillian kept her focus on the white lumps bobbing in the saucepan. She attacked the stubborn clumps with a whisk, and fell under the spell of smoothening floury pan drippings. "Careful. You're going to beat out all the flavor." "Hmmm…what was that?…