Hoover Walking
I used to go walking first thing in the morning. Good for an old woman’s heart. The muggy Alabama weather was one reason I’d head out early
Morning Loss
Nirabadha pulled off the county road to check on his first gas station. The morning sun still hid behind Georgia, not yet bathing the small Alabama town with light. Only the fog and turkey hunters seemed to silently move about
A Man by the Pond
by Jacob Lambert As the train came to a shuddering halt, Thomas Little stepped down the steel steps and out into the dry summer air. In the distance, he could see an immense pond, one surround by a forest that seemed to threaten the very integrity of the above crystalline sky. The humidity, along with the multitudes of insects swarming around his sweaty, waxen face,
Road to Caledonia
A hot summer wind blew through the half-opened window of Ronnie’s old battered Jeep Cherokee, whipping Sheila’s platinum blond hair across her pale blue eyes. She yanked a white ponytail holder from her wrist
Frinemies
by Julie Respress I’ve heard it said that sometimes your closest friend can be your greatest enemy. I had no idea how close to home this was until a recent series of events taught me that sometimes the only person you can trust is
Penguins
by Jamie Poole My boy Ethan was learning about penguins at school. I hated to admit that I didn’t know much about the birds. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if they were birds since they didn’t fly. As soon as he piled in the car with his Spiderman backpack in one hand and a sweaty fistful of construction paper in the other, he started up with the questions again. “Mama, Mrs. Carson said penguins live in Antarctica but not in the Arctic. Why can’t they live in both places?” “Hmmm … I don’t know, baby. Maybe we can read about that in one of our encyclopedias at home.” In 1982 my mama got roped into buying a set of World Books from my fifth grade teacher. They’d cost her a thousand dollars and that was back fifteen years ago. Now they propped up my box spring and mattress. I was already feeling stressed by the time he got in the car. Car-line always made me feel that way. Sitting still didn’t come easy to me. Made me feel real nervous just sitting there, arm dangling out of the car window because the air conditioner was broken and it was already ninety degrees in
The Kinisey File
by Vanessa K. Eccles Okay, so I am a stock boy at the University in Baton Rouge. My job pretty much consists of putting up, sorting, and cataloguing books and files. Most days are monotonous, but sometimes it gets interesting. But none of which were ever as incredible as the day that I happened upon the file. I was tasked the file room. It is unbelievably boring. I have only done it once before, but I would not wish work up there for my worst enemy. First of all, I can never find anything in that room. I had to take a double look when my boss gave me a list of over forty files to pull. I simply rolled my eyes, put on my big boy face, and got to work. After successfully finding about 11 files, I noticed that one file was sticking out just a little further from the rest. It was more of a yellowish color too. For some reason it caught my attention, enough to pull it out and look. I wiped some dust off, and I saw that the file had some writing on it. It was in thick bold cursive letters that said The Kinisey File. I