Stories

Spring break, and everyone is back from college for some good Southern partying. For those who never left, like Marshal, their friends coming back means booze, girls and hanging out on tailgates with a bigger crowd. Marshal is happy to spend his evening lusting after a man he can't have, but someone else has other ideas.

An athletic high-school senior and a studious freshman form an unusual friendship.

Boccaccio's Decameron, a story of renewal and recreation in defiance of a decimating pandemic, relates how ten self-isolated Italians pass the time regaling each other with tall tales during the Black Plague. While Covid19 wasn't nearly as decimating, the opportunity for such entertainment did exist. As a takeoff on that idea, this short story might well be a modern version of one of the tales, recounting events of earlier, less stressful times.

Time to tell my own story.

Everyone says to stay out of the woods. They say that it's dangerous to play in there, especially alone. I don't know why they are so afraid. I find the woods to be quite peaceful. Besides, Jacob is there.

Jason Whitlock has a job to do. He needs to serve some papers, so he's traveling to a small island on Lake Superior to accomplish this task. Things pop up that make him start thinking about his life, who he really is, and what it means.

Linus makes coffee. He's good at it, too, even if no one remembers his name. When he does get a shot at his dream, the road doesn't lead exactly where he expected. One day he’d wonder if all things happen for a reason, or if God was just messing with him.

It’s the Sixties and Ronnie is certain everyone in his family thinks he’s a homosexual. The problem is, he’s not too certain he isn’t and he knows next to nothing about sex. Then an answer appears in a little game of spin the bottle.

A Halloween special, and a response to prompt 457: Spiders.

Tia takes a job on a horse farm in Pennsylvania and sets about discovering the secrets of the owner's son.