In the months after Ed, before my sister arrived with her psychic business start-up, I spent Sundays with Rita.
Rita Next Door by Valerie Fox
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Special Issue: Mega Meganthology
Skim Coats by Amy Barnes
There’s a beach ball in the apartment toilet. The realtor lady points at anything but the stuffed potty. I’m three-years-old and have never seen a beach.
Teaching the Dog to Speak French by Karen Jones
I talk to my rescue Yorkshire Terrier in silly accents. French is my favourite: “Mon dieu! Zees eez a very big poo you’ve done, Fifi chien!” She doesn’t seem to mind – after a while she just goes to bed and sleeps.
The Girl from the Laundromat & The Alligators Are Never Far by Frankie McMillan
You remember when he said you were beautiful, a clean thing that would save him. You were both running towards the Alligator Aquarium on the waterfront. There was a small open shaft on the roof, he said, easy to slip through.
The Woman in My Closet by Misty Urban
The woman in my closet is watching me again. Flash of white through the folded door, crisp linen tea dress, fascinator, prim buttoned gloves. I laugh. That was never me.
This House by Audra Kerr Brown
Mom and HerBoyfriendChip say we got this house real cheap because something bad happened here. Before we go in, us kids ask if it’s haunted, and Mom says even if chairs stack themselves and walls bleed, we’re better off living here than in that catpiss apartment with the Lopers.
Ugly Thing by Claire Polders
I’m taking the kitchen table, because you don’t remember how we hauled it together in sweating harmony from the Queen’s Day secondhand market through the celebrating streets to our first home.
What Blooms by Constance Malloy
Sarah sat on the sofa, listening to her mother read, “It was an anxious moment for the watchers on the bridge. They looked and looked…”
At Some Point, Bob Turned into a Dog by Francine Witte
Which is great, because I actually like him better this way. A dog isn’t likely to run off with your best friend, and come back six months later, panting for forgiveness.