Category: Fiction
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Momma’s rocking chair
Frances NadelPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States January 21, 1929 Poverty lurks in every corner of the Johnson’s one-room house. Even if mother and baby survive this night, winter will continue to prey at their door. The room grows darker as the fire falters to orange ash, and I place the last log—more like a thick branch—on…
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Jobber
Eli Daniel EhrenpreisSkokie, Illinois, United States One who performs odd jobs or piece work; a derogatory term for a wrestler who is booked to lose a match. “Thank you for seeing us.” “Of course, that’s what I do.” Her son sits quietly, holding a small toy plane that he moves around in wide arcs. Then he…
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The disease called poverty
Olufolakayomi Christiana Thomas Lagos State, Nigeria Photo by Rui Rocha on Flickr. It is a hot Friday afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria. Everyone is gearing up for the weekend and already starting to leave work. The clinic staff does this each week under the guise of attending Friday Jumat prayers, even though the clinic does…
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Amy Sage
Eli EhrenpreisChicago, Illinois, United States During my medical training in the 90s, Amy Sage was a real standout. She was a fellow in the gastroenterology program at the university hospital. She was tall, muscular, and had blonde hair. She had quite a presence at work, parking her motorcycle on the street near the hospital, walking…
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Romantique
Jonathan B. Ferrini La Jolla, California, United States “Forest Stream.” Photo by John D. on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. “I live in a world of spring showers of acrylic and watercolor droplets painting the score on the pavement of a Chopin nocturne.” These were the last words my brother Marshal spoke to me ten…
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A celebrated occasion
Eli Ehrenpreis Chicago, Illinois, United States Artwork by Annie Trincot. She arrives at the office early, looking as if she stepped from a portrait. Her blue eyes glimmer with tears. “My gynecologist has been treating me for hemorrhoids, but the bleeding has been getting worse. It started when I had my…
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It always comes down to medicine
Matthew Turner Washington, United States Blackbeard the Pirate. Published as “Capt. Teach alias Black-Beard” in A General History of the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, &c. to which is added, a genuine account of the voyages and plunders of the most notorious pyrates. Interspersed with several diverting tales, and…
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Scar
Michael Loyd Gray Kalamazoo, Michigan Photo by Min An on Pexels. Alice ran a finger along the scar on his arm and he slowly woke up, his eyes focusing in the dark. She had been watching him sleep. He rolled over to face her. “Can’t you sleep?” she said. “I had a bad dream.”…
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The emergency room doctor
Rob Ottesen Vero Beach, Florida, United States Photo by RF._.studio on Pexels. If you were to ask me, I like to have a glazed doughnut before I go to sleep because the sugar in the doughnut inhibits my body’s production of orexin, a neuropeptide, thereby ensuring a peaceful slumber. I also like the taste of…
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The flower lady
Jonathan B. Ferrini La Jolla, California, United States Photos by author. The Flores Family Flower Shop was founded by my grandfather as a roadside stand. It has now been a favorite flower shop in San Diego for the past fifty years. Six days a week at 4:30 in the morning, I drive the truck…