Elizabeth Orndorff -- “The Bathroom Cleaner"
Sometimes he would throw out a curse at her like a rotten
tomato, aim it right at her and hit her good with it. A nasty
curse like he shouldn't have known how to say, he was so young.
Bad enough you cleaned for white folks, he would holler, now you
got to clean for niggers, too?
Sheila Lamb-Onton -- “Switchyard”
The train rambles on. I look at my family and wonder where we
are. My mother sits mumbling quietly to herself, hunched in the
train seat. Lisbeth sleeps in the crook of her arm. I sneak a
glance around her, over at my father, on the aisle. He wears the
same tense expression as he has for a long time. A single tear
escapes from his left eye. He catches me watching and quickly
brushes it away.
Raffi Kevorkian -- “Misfit”
When he finished his prayer the Der Hayr spoke to the man. He
asked him if he had been in an accident. The man shook his head.
Someone else asked where he came from and if there was anyone they
could call. But the man, thought the Der Hayr, possibly from lack
of oxygen, blood, or both, seemed confused and only shook his head
slowly from side-to-side.
Mark D'Anna -- “McFarland”
Dean stared at me with the unlit cigarette clinging to the
saliva of his lower lip and hanging like an effigy of his false
concern, waiting to be burned. I walked to the drawer and pulled
out a lighter and tossed it to him. Dean lit the cigarette and
inhaled a massive plume of smoke and then spit it into my kitchen
air. He smiled and disappeared behind the hazy cloud.
Michelle Mellon -- “Nameless” (Contest Winner)
She rubs her finger carefully down the list of names, and
finds a surname that matches her own. She knows first hand that
the exploration and documentation of slave graveyards is timely
and difficult, and rarely rewarded with an artifact like the one
she holds in her hands.
Louise Domaratius -- “Blows to the Heart”
No more than five minutes of class had gone by, when Candace
saw her leap up and bound for the door. Ideas ran immediately
through Candace’s mind: she’s got to get to the toilet; she’s
overdosing, freaking out; she swallowed something she shouldn't
have…
Edward Belfar -- “A View of the Fireworks”
"What fireworks?"
"The ones they shoot off at midnight over the harbor. You can
see them from the top of the building."
"No thanks. I can make my own fireworks. Just stick my finger
in a light socket. I'll light up the building. The top of my head
will blind you."
Tim Macy -- “Prehistory”
He was around thirteen when the picture was taken, when he
loved God like Gertrude loved him. He hoped she would fall out of
love, but she lusted after God, reminiscent of the dying elderly,
hurriedly trying to make reservations for heaven, having waited
until the last minute.
Jason Siegel -- “Cosmic Possibilities”
They all feel it, each in their own unique way, yet they have
no idea just how big this thing is, and none of them, at least not
in their current lives on Earth, will ever fully grasp the
significance of what is about to occur.
Tamar Love -- “When Grief Was a Country”
Although you have passed all the tests you set yourself, that
night, alone in your motel room, you find yourself moving backward
in time, remembering first the end, and then the middle, and then,
finally, after a bottle of cheap wine: the beginning.
Chuck Rosenthal -- an excerpt from The Last Book of
Everything, a revelation: “Make Love, Not War”
Roscoe had two brothers there, a sister-in-law, two young
nephews. He followed Diosa into their bedroom where a small
television sat on top of Roscoe’s dresser. Roscoe found the
remote. Both of the twin towers were smoking at the top. For a
minute, silently, they watched, then Roscoe turned it off.
Therefore, when it comes to this incredible book, it is
guaranteed that you will not only receive a copy without risk of
any kind, you're also in for a literary treat.
Peter Balaskas
Managing Editor
Ex Machina Press, LLC.
Volume 3
Whispers
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