|
Home |
Adair, Jay |
Adhikari, Sudeep |
Ahern, Edward |
Aldrich, Janet M. |
Allan, T. N. |
Allen, M. G. |
Ammonds, Phillip J. |
Anderson, Fred |
Anderson, Peter |
Andreopoulos, Elliott |
Arab, Bint |
Armstrong, Dini |
Augustyn, P. K. |
Aymar, E. A. |
Babbs, James |
Baber, Bill |
Bagwell, Dennis |
Bailey, Ashley |
Bailey, Thomas |
Baird, Meg |
Bakala, Brendan |
Baker, Nathan |
Balaz, Joe |
BAM |
Barber, Shannon |
Barker, Tom |
Barlow, Tom |
Bates, Jack |
Bayly, Karen |
Baugh, Darlene |
Bauman, Michael |
Baumgartner, Jessica Marie |
Beale, Jonathan |
Beck, George |
Beckman, Paul |
Benet, Esme |
Bennett, Brett |
Bennett, Charlie |
Bennett, D. V. |
Benton, Ralph |
Berg, Carly |
Berman, Daniel |
Bernardara, Will Jr. |
Berriozabal, Luis |
Beveridge, Robert |
Bickerstaff, Russ |
Bigney, Tyler |
Blackwell, C. W. |
Bladon, Henry |
Blake, Steven |
Blakey, James |
Bohem, Charlie Keys and Les |
Bonner, Kim |
Booth, Brenton |
Boski, David |
Bougger, Jason |
Boyd, A. V. |
Boyd, Morgan |
Boyle, James |
Bracey, DG |
Brewka-Clark, Nancy |
Britt, Alan |
Broccoli, Jimmy |
Brooke, j |
Brown, R. Thomas |
Brown, Sam |
Bruce, K. Marvin |
Bryson, Kathleen |
Burke, Wayne F. |
Burnwell, Otto |
Burton, Michael |
Bushtalov, Denis |
Butcher, Jonathan |
Butkowski, Jason |
Butler, Terence |
Cameron, W. B. |
Campbell, J. J. |
Campbell, Jack Jr. |
Cano, Valentina |
Cardinale, Samuel |
Cardoza, Dan A. |
Carlton, Bob |
Carr, Jennifer |
Cartwright, Steve |
Carver, Marc |
Castle, Chris |
Catlin, Alan |
Centorbi, David |
Chesler, Adam |
Christensen, Jan |
Clausen, Daniel |
Clevenger, Victor |
Clifton, Gary |
Cmileski, Sue |
Cody, Bethany |
Coey, Jack |
Coffey, James |
Colasuonno, Alfonso |
Condora, Maddisyn |
Conley, Jen |
Connor, Tod |
Cooper, Malcolm Graham |
Copes, Matthew |
Coral, Jay |
Corrigan, Mickey J. |
Cosby, S. A. |
Costello, Bruce |
Cotton, Mark |
Coverley, Harris |
Crandall, Rob |
Criscuolo, Carla |
Crist, Kenneth |
Cross, Thomas X. |
Cumming, Scott |
D., Jack |
Dallett, Cassandra |
Danoski, Joseph V. |
Daly, Sean |
Davies, J. C. |
Davis, Christopher |
Davis, Michael D. |
Day, Holly |
de Bruler, Connor |
Degani, Gay |
De France, Steve |
De La Garza, Lela Marie |
Deming, Ruth Z. |
Demmer, Calvin |
De Neve, M. A. |
Dennehy, John W. |
DeVeau, Spencer |
Di Chellis, Peter |
Dillon, John J. |
DiLorenzo, Ciro |
Dilworth, Marcy |
Dioguardi, Michael Anthony |
Dionne, Ron |
Dobson, Melissa |
Domenichini, John |
Dominelli, Rob |
Doran, Phil |
Doreski, William |
Dority, Michael |
Dorman, Roy |
Doherty, Rachel |
Dosser, Jeff |
Doyle, Jacqueline |
Doyle, John |
Draime, Doug |
Drake, Lena Judith |
Dromey, John H. |
Dubal, Paul Michael |
Duke, Jason |
Duncan, Gary |
Dunham, T. Fox |
Duschesneau, Pauline |
Dunn, Robin Wyatt |
Duxbury, Karen |
Duy, Michelle |
Eade, Kevin |
Ebel, Pamela |
Elliott, Garnett |
Ellman, Neil |
England, Kristina |
Erianne, John |
Espinosa, Maria |
Esterholm, Jeff |
Fabian, R. Gerry |
Fallow, Jeff |
Farren, Jim |
Fedolfi, Leon |
Fenster, Timothy |
Ferraro, Diana |
Filas, Cameron |
Fillion, Tom |
Fishbane, Craig |
Fisher, Miles Ryan |
Flanagan, Daniel N. |
Flanagan, Ryan Quinn |
Flynn, Jay |
Fortunato, Chris |
Francisco, Edward |
Frank, Tim |
Fugett, Brian |
Funk, Matthew C. |
Gann, Alan |
Gardner, Cheryl Ann |
Garvey, Kevin Z. |
Gay, Sharon Frame |
Gentile, Angelo |
Genz, Brian |
Giersbach, Walter |
Gladeview, Lawrence |
Glass, Donald |
Goddard, L. B. |
Godwin, Richard |
Goff, Christopher |
Golds, Stephen J. |
Goss, Christopher |
Gradowski, Janel |
Graham, Sam |
Grant, Christopher |
Grant, Stewart |
Greenberg, K.J. Hannah |
Greenberg, Paul |
Grey, John |
Guirand, Leyla |
Gunn, Johnny |
Gurney, Kenneth P. |
Hagerty, David |
Haglund, Tobias |
Halleck, Robert |
Hamlin, Mason |
Hansen, Vinnie |
Hanson, Christopher Kenneth |
Hanson, Kip |
Harrington, Jim |
Harris, Bruce |
Hart, GJ |
Hartman, Michelle |
Hartwell, Janet |
Haskins, Chad |
Hawley, Doug |
Haycock, Brian |
Hayes, A. J. |
Hayes, John |
Hayes, Peter W. J. |
Heatley, Paul |
Heimler, Heidi |
Helmsley, Fiona |
Hendry, Mark |
Heslop, Karen |
Heyns, Heather |
Hilary, Sarah |
Hill, Richard |
Hivner, Christopher |
Hockey, Matthew J. |
Hogan, Andrew J. |
Holderfield, Culley |
Holton, Dave |
Houlahan, Jeff |
Howells, Ann |
Hoy, J. L. |
Huchu, Tendai |
Hudson, Rick |
Huffman, A. J. |
Huguenin, Timothy G. |
Huskey, Jason L. |
Ippolito, Curtis |
Irascible, Dr. I. M. |
Jaggers, J. David |
James, Christopher |
Jarrett, Nigel |
Jayne, Serena |
Johnson, Beau |
Johnson, Moctezuma |
Johnson, Zakariah |
Jones, D. S. |
Jones, Erin J. |
Jones, Mark |
Kabel, Dana |
Kaiser, Alison |
Kanach, A. |
Kaplan, Barry Jay |
Kay, S. |
Keaton, David James |
Kempka, Hal |
Kerins, Mike |
Keshigian, Michael |
Kevlock, Mark Joseph |
King, Michelle Ann |
Kirk, D. |
Kitcher, William |
Knott, Anthony |
Koenig, Michael |
Kokan, Bob |
Kolarik, Andrew J. |
Korpon, Nik |
Kovacs, Norbert |
Kovacs, Sandor |
Kowalcyzk, Alec |
Krafft, E. K. |
Kunz, Dave |
Lacks, Lee Todd |
Lang, Preston |
Larkham, Jack |
La Rosa, F. Michael |
Leasure, Colt |
Leatherwood, Roger |
LeDue, Richard |
Lees, Arlette |
Lees, Lonni |
Leins, Tom |
Lemieux, Michael |
Lemming, Jennifer |
Lerner, Steven M |
Leverone, Allan |
Levine, Phyllis Peterson |
Lewis, Cynthia Ruth |
Lewis, LuAnn |
Licht, Matthew |
Lifshin, Lyn |
Lilley, James |
Liskey, Tom Darin |
Lodge, Oliver |
Lopez, Aurelio Rico III |
Lorca, Aurelia |
Lovisi, Gary |
Lubaczewski, Paul |
Lucas, Gregory E. |
Lukas, Anthony |
Lynch, Nulty |
Lyon, Hillary |
Lyons, Matthew |
Mac, David |
MacArthur, Jodi |
Malone, Joe |
Mann, Aiki |
Manthorne, Julian |
Manzolillo, Nicholas |
Marcius, Cal |
Marrotti, Michael |
Mason, Wayne |
Mathews, Bobby |
Mattila, Matt |
Matulich, Joel |
McAdams, Liz |
McCaffrey, Stanton |
McCartney, Chris |
McDaris, Catfish |
McFarlane, Adam Beau |
McGinley, Chris |
McGinley, Jerry |
McElhiney, Sean |
McJunkin, Ambrose |
McKim, Marci |
McMannus, Jack |
McQuiston, Rick |
Mellon, Mark |
Memi, Samantha |
Middleton, Bradford |
Miles, Marietta |
Miller, Max |
Minihan, Jeremiah |
Montagna, Mitchel |
Monson, Mike |
Mooney, Christopher P. |
Moran, Jacqueline M. |
Morgan, Bill W. |
Moss, David Harry |
Mullins, Ian |
Mulvihill, Michael |
Muslim, Kristine Ong |
Nardolilli, Ben |
Nelson, Trevor |
Nessly, Ray |
Nester, Steven |
Neuda, M. C. |
Newell, Ben |
Newman, Paul |
Nielsen, Ayaz |
Nobody, Ed |
Nore, Abe |
Numann, Randy |
Ogurek, Douglas J. |
O'Keefe, Sean |
Orrico, Connor |
Ortiz, Sergio |
Pagel, Briane |
Park, Jon |
Parks, Garr |
Parr, Rodger |
Parrish, Rhonda |
Partin-Nielsen, Judith |
Peralez, R. |
Perez, Juan M. |
Perez, Robert Aguon |
Peterson, Ross |
Petroziello, Brian |
Petska, Darrell |
Pettie, Jack |
Petyo, Robert |
Phillips, Matt |
Picher, Gabrielle |
Pierce, Curtis |
Pierce, Rob |
Pietrzykowski, Marc |
Plath, Rob |
Pointer, David |
Post, John |
Powell, David |
Power, Jed |
Powers, M. P. |
Praseth, Ram |
Prazych, Richard |
Priest, Ryan |
Prusky, Steve |
Pruitt, Eryk |
Purfield, M. E. |
Purkis, Gordon |
Quinlan, Joseph R. |
Quinn, Frank |
Rabas, Kevin |
Ragan, Robert |
Ram, Sri |
Rapth, Sam |
Ravindra, Rudy |
Reich, Betty |
Renney, Mark |
reutter, g emil |
Rhatigan, Chris |
Rhiel, Ann Marie |
Ribshman, Kevin |
Ricchiuti, Andrew |
Richardson, Travis |
Richey, John Lunar |
Ridgeway, Kevin |
Rihlmann, Brian |
Ritchie, Bob |
Ritchie, Salvadore |
Robinson, John D. |
Robinson, Kent |
Rodgers, K. M. |
Roger, Frank |
Rose, Mandi |
Rose, Mick |
Rosenberger, Brian |
Rosenblum, Mark |
Rosmus, Cindy |
Rowland, C. A. |
Ruhlman, Walter |
Rutherford, Scotch |
Sahms, Diane |
Saier, Monique |
Salinas, Alex |
Sanders, Isabelle |
Sanders, Sebnem |
Santo, Heather |
Savage, Jack |
Sayles, Betty J. |
Schauber, Karen |
Schneeweiss, Jonathan |
Schraeder, E. F. |
Schumejda, Rebecca |
See, Tom |
Sethi, Sanjeev |
Sexton, Rex |
Seymour, J. E. |
Shaikh, Aftab Yusuf |
Sheagren, Gerald E. |
Shepherd, Robert |
Shirey, D. L. |
Shore, Donald D. |
Short, John |
Sim, Anton |
Simmler, T. Maxim |
Simpson, Henry |
Sinisi, J. J. |
Sixsmith, JD |
Slagle, Cutter |
Slaviero, Susan |
Sloan, Frank |
Small, Alan Edward |
Smith, Brian J. |
Smith, Ben |
Smith, C.R.J. |
Smith, Copper |
Smith, Greg |
Smith, Elena E. |
Smith, Ian C. |
Smith, Paul |
Smith, Stephanie |
Smith, Willie |
Smuts, Carolyn |
Snethen, Daniel G. |
Snoody, Elmore |
Sojka, Carol |
Solender, Michael J. |
Sortwell, Pete |
Sparling, George |
Spicer, David |
Squirrell, William |
Stanton, Henry G. |
Steven, Michael |
Stevens, J. B. |
Stewart, Michael S. |
Stickel, Anne |
Stoler, Cathi |
Stolec, Trina |
Stoll, Don |
Stryker, Joseph H. |
Stucchio, Chris |
Succre, Ray |
Sullivan, Thomas |
Surkiewicz, Joe |
Swanson, Peter |
Swartz, Justin A. |
Sweet, John |
Tarbard, Grant |
Tait, Alyson |
Taylor, J. M. |
Thompson, John L. |
Thompson, Phillip |
Thrax, Max |
Ticktin, Ruth |
Tillman, Stephen |
Titus, Lori |
Tivey, Lauren |
Tobin, Tim |
Torrence, Ron |
Tu, Andy |
Turner, Lamont A. |
Tustin, John |
Ullerich, Eric |
Valent, Raymond A. |
Valvis, James |
Vilhotti, Jerry |
Waldman, Dr. Mel |
Walker, Dustin |
Walsh, Patricia |
Walters, Luke |
Ward, Emma |
Washburn, Joseph |
Watt, Max |
Weber, R.O. |
Weil, Lester L. |
White, Judy Friedman |
White, Robb |
White, Terry |
Wickham, Alice |
Wilhide, Zach |
Williams, K. A. |
Wilsky, Jim |
Wilson, Robley |
Wilson, Tabitha |
Woodland, Francis |
Woods, Jonathan |
Young, Mark |
Yuan, Changming |
Zackel, Fred |
Zafiro, Frank |
Zapata, Angel |
Zee, Carly |
Zeigler, Martin |
Zimmerman, Thomas |
Butler, Simon Hardy |
|
|
|
|
|
An Occurrence
on Oliver Street
by Heidi Heimler
I’m trying real hard not to smile, on account of you’re
not supposed to smile for a mug shot. But it ain’t easy, because truth be told, I feel pretty darn good.
I had no idea what killing a man would be like. I figured maybe
I’d get sick, watching his brains spill out of his head, teeth hitting the wall and blood splattering everywhere. Instead,
I watched his guts bust out of his belly, because that’s where the bullets went.
What can I say? I ain’t that good with a gun.
I didn’t want to look away. It’s like having sex for
the first time. You’re real scared and you think it’s gonna be awful. And for a minute, it is. But then, something
happens and you feel better than you’ve ever felt in your whole life. That’s what watching Billy die was like
for me.
You might call me insane; I probably wouldn’t take issue.
But don’t go feeling sorry for him, because he deserved every one of those bullets. See, Billie told my momma he’d
take care of me. He said he loved me. We were married in a little church up on the hill. My poppa gave him what money he had,
just enough to buy us a little place on Oliver Street.
Things were good for a while. But then Billy lost his job down on
the docks. Instead of looking for work, he took to drinking. He sat on the sofa and sucked down liquor like it was mother’s
milk.
So I got a job cleaning rich folks’ houses. One day I went to work at the Smiths’, but they had a fire
during the night and there wasn’t nothing for me to clean. So I came home early and found Billy on the couch, ass up
in the air, pants down at his ankles, pumping away on some woman. I stood there without saying a word and waited for him to
scrunch up his face like he does just before he squirts. When he was good and done, he looked up and saw me.
“Shit,” he said, between
breaths. “What in hell are you doing home?”
The woman wriggled out from under my husband and started looking
for her panties. Me, I walked into the bedroom and got Billy’s gun. When I came back into the room, the woman was gone,
and Billy stood by the door, a bit wobbly on his feet, drunk as usual. I held up the gun and pointed it at him. We stared
at each other for a moment, and then I shot him. Yup, just like that. I watched his guts spill out, and I watched him die.
It took a while, even with all his innards blown out.
I figure the neighbors must’ve heard the gun go off, because the cops showed up quicker’n milk turns sour
in the July heat.
And now I’m getting my picture taken, and I’m trying not to
smile.
|
Art by Mike Kerins |
About
that Night
by
Heidi Heimler
I wake to the hum of neon lights and the drip of an IV machine. A man
who reeks of tobacco towers above me, peering through hooded eyes. “I’m Sergeant Taylor,” he says. “Tell
me about the accident.”
Inside my addled mind, a movie starring Johnny and me begins to play.
I’m leaning on the hood of his beat-up Toyota. His hands cup my face; his tongue meets mine. We’re carefree. Invincible.
Untouchable. Drunk.
Cut to scene two: the car veers off the road, jumps onto the sidewalk,
compresses against a brick wall like the bellows of an accordion. A metal scream escapes into the night. Sirens pierce the
stillness that follows.
Confusion dominates scene three. Faces and colors flit in and out, a
kaleidoscope of discordant fragments. I grope for Johnny’s hand as if it were a remote, his thumb a rewind button.
“You okay?” I whisper.
“We have to get outta here,” he says.
A pair of wayward undead, we climb
out of the wreckage and trudge toward the curb. Just before we get there, Johnny collapses. I kneel down beside him and cradle
his head. Then darkness descends upon me, too.
Sergeant Taylor’s gravel voice
jars me from my reverie. “Tell me what happened.”
“Where’s Johnny?”
I whisper.
His words slice through me. “Your
boyfriend’s car hit a man.”
Another image rips through my consciousness:
a rail-thin figure, his head slumped forward, fills the space between the car and the wall. Blood drips from his lips and
pools in his long grey beard.
“Johnny’s got a concussion,”
Sergeant Taylor says. “Can’t recall a thing.” He moves closer, looming like a thunderhead. “Tell me
what you know.”
Tainted by drink and censored by
fear, my memories lie on the cutting-room floor, disarrayed, discarded. The more I try to make sense of them, the more scrambled
they become. I say nothing.
I get probation; they send Johnny
away.
The years muddy my fractured recollections.
Time relegates them to the snap-and-seal storage bins in the back of my brain. I’ve got a husband now, and a belly swollen
with life. I don’t look back.
But the fetus doesn’t bring
joy, only nightmares. Jagged shards of memory spill out of the bins, cutting my mind till it bleeds.
“Pregnancy will do that,”
the doctor says. When I stop eating, he gives me supplements and the name of a good shrink.
We comb through daddy issues, dissect
fears of heights and strangers, and place my sex life under a microscope. I give it my all, but talk yields nothing, so the
shrink suggests hypnosis. The next time we meet, he greets me with the rhythmic tick of a metronome, defies me to keep my
lids from falling. In spite of myself, I submerge into a world where past and present collide, sharing a single stage.
I see us, Johnny and me, stumbling
out of the bar, propping each other up, tripping, giggling. When we get to his car, he fumbles for the keys. “No,”
I say, “let me.” And he does. He lets me drive.
I drove Johnny’s car that night. He didn’t kill anyone. I did.
You have to tell, the fetus screams,
you have to make it right.
Pretending to be an old high school
pal, I call Johnny’s mother. “Sorry to bother you, Mrs. B. Can you tell me how to reach him?”
Her silence stretches for miles.
“Johnny’s dead,” she finally says. “Been three years since he hung himself. They said he killed a
man. He couldn’t bear it.”
Her words echo long after I’ve
hung up.
When my baby is born, I name him Johnny.
Heidi
Heimler is a psychologist with an alter ego that's fond of putting pen to paper. Her work has appeared in both online and
print publications, including Liquid Imagination, Postcard Shorts, The Short Humour Site, Verdad Magazine, Mississippi Crow,
Full of Crow, Primalzine, Yellow Mama, The Scarlet Sound, Apollo's Lyre, and
upcoming in The Linnet's Wings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Association with Fossil Publications
|
|
|
|