family
A Friend’s Mom
He swears he remembers the day he was born. It was September 27, 1997 in the new Mercer Wing at West Shore Hospital. He says he can smell the ammonia; see the blinding florescent lights. He sees his parents hovering that first night, anxious he's still breathing.
By SG Buckley4 years ago in Fiction
Scattered
When he awoke from his midday nap, the large handwriting that ran across the sheets of construction paper scattered around him reminded Jonas Jackson of his grandson Troy. Looking around the room, he caught sight of his daughter’s picture, which sat atop a corner table, and he remembered her, not as the runaway mother of his grandson, not as a convicted drug addict, but as the five-year-old child who Jonas treasured so much in the vivid, but aged, memories of his deteriorating mind. For a brief moment he wondered when she would return before remembering correctly this time that she would not.
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
Failure
The shouting behind the emergency room double doors inside the New Domangue Medical Center was muffled but nonstop. It worried Yuri. Was that Lena? Yuri couldn’t tell. Was Lena ok? Was she hurt? Yuri lost track of her surroundings as she thought about the last time they talked. That was a few weeks ago. It didn’t go well. Lena said some things that hurt Yuri and Yuri may have said some ugly things back, the types of things Yuri knows no mother should say to her daughter. Sometimes Yuri can’t help it, unable to break from the old habits that shaped her childhood in the D.R. For a spell after that, Lena didn’t answer the phone, didn’t call, so Yuri let it go and waited. Yuri waited like she always has. Ever since Lena’s father died, it’s been this way. Ten years now and Yuri felt no closer to Lena than that day.
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
From Around Here
So I’m standing at my register in Stump’s Supermarket, checking people through my line without any of my usual crazy thoughts, when Reynaldo comes into the store with this uppity-looking white woman. I don’t realize that it’s Reynaldo right away because he doesn’t look like the Reynaldo I used to know.
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
The Rainstorm
Just south of New Domangue proper, where the people living in hamlets along the skeleton-patterned, shell-covered riverside road known as Maple Street waited for the asphalt that had been promised more than twenty years ago, Nadine Bouchenaix dreamed of one day running upriver toward New Orleans. If she could just reach the big city lights where she believed her mother waited for her, she would be able to fill the emptiness she’d known her entire life. Now, barely fifteen years old, Nadine worried about a different sort of emptiness, one that she wished was inside her instead of the growing womb that pushed against her jeans.
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
Guilt
“If that father of yours had known how to be strategic, he might be alive right now. Then again, even if he was strategic, it may not have mattered. Returning to Maimón after such a long time, Pietro walked in here like he was famous. He ran around like he was royalty from the moment he showed his face. He was boastful and showy, traits he wasn’t remembered for when he was last seen around here,” Guzmán shared in Spanish with Hector.
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
Available
“I don’t know what else to do, quite frankly,” Machato Perez shares with his sister. “Have you thought about that alternative school? You know, the one where they focus on doing things physically? I think they do lots of wood working, garden work, you know, stuff like that.”
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
The Unsat Chair
I spent lots of summers on my grandparent's farm when I was growing up. There was one thing that was always undisturbed. It was a sky blue chair that sat right in front of the storage house on the property. All of the grand children called it 'the unsat chair.' As long as I can remember, no one ever got away with sitting in it. If one dared to place their bottom in it, they would immediately be reprimanded. Grandma Clara made sure that the chair had due respect. As time passed, the chair was never revitalized. The vibrant blue color slowly peeled off. The lavender colored background slowly begun to shed over time. This story will tell you why the chair had been set aside for years.
By Words by Mary4 years ago in Fiction
Will You Stay with Me?
I should have known that something was up with Papi when he came home early and didn’t do anything to us after he caught us running from the street toward the house as fast as we could. That wasn’t the first time he’d come home when he wasn’t supposed to. One time, five months ago, everyone at the refinery was sent home early when there was a leak from one of the tanks. Papi came home excited at first, but after he cleaned up and ate dinner, all he did was complain about being tired, about not being paid enough, and about the many things that were wrong with New Domangue. Then he fell asleep in front of the TV.
By Lucas Díaz-Medina4 years ago in Fiction
Elf Pink Slip
It is almost that time! The countdown for Christmas is around the corner! As Santa’s helpers are working their magic on the assembly lines making sure that every good little boy and girl gets what is on their Christmas list, something unusual happens.
By Ireland Lorelei 4 years ago in Fiction
