The Long Journey Home

July 17, 2024July 10, 2024 ~ Ian Sputnik ~ 4 Comments

Sam slowly paddled the canoe down the river, carefully negotiating the rocks that were dotted along the way. Mosquitoes nipped at his neck and face with such regularity that he didn’t even bother to swipe at them anymore. At least they were eating well. In this jungle food was virtually non-existent. He wondered how the local tribes managed to survive out here. The plant life was mainly poisonous and what was edible had little to no nutritional value. The wildlife mainly consisted of snakes and spiders, all highly venomous, any monkeys that he occasionally saw jumping from tree to tree were impossible to catch without the use of a firearm and he had long since run out of powder and shot.

It was 1748 and Sam’s second attempt to reach the San Quito outpost deep within the Amazon rain forest. His first attempt ended in failure due to bad weather. This time he had succeeded and was trying to return to where he called home, a small village populated by traders and explorers. His canoe was packed with rare plants. They were completely inedible, but in the right hands they could be turned into medicine. In the wrong hands they became the basis for a very powerful narcotic. He could make decent money selling to those with the right hands, but even more selling to those with the wrong ones. His haul was worth its weight in gold and had cost him very little.

It was now a race against time to get back down the river, a race that he was losing. If disease didn’t get him then starvation certainly would. He was weeks away from his destination and weeks since his last good meal. He had lost what meagre rations he had whilst negotiating some rapids. His stomach was empty and rumbled continuously. He wretched over the side of the boat. Stomach acid burned his throat as it poured from his mouth into the river. He wiped his mouth and took a sip of water from his canteen.

A few days later he heard a voice calling. At first he thought he had imagined it. But then he heard it again.

“Hello, friend.”

Sam could see a man on the riverbank waving to him. He paddled over and they exchanged greetings.

The stranger’s name was Nathaniel. He had also intended to trade at San Quito, but his canoe had been dashed against the rocks during a sudden surge in the river due to heavy rains a few weeks back. He had lost everything to the river and looked in even worse shape than Sam. His eyes and cheeks were sunken and his skin had a sickly grey hue to it.

“I had given up hope of finding anyone,” he blubbered, tears streaming down his face.

“Calm yourself sir,” Sam replied. “If we reorganise my cargo I’m sure I have room for you.”

With the sacks of medicinal plants moved to the centre of the canoe, Nathaniel sat himself at the front with Sam seated at its rear.

“I must admit, walking through that cursed jungle I’ve lost all track of time and no idea how far we are from civilisation. How long will it take to make it down river?” Nathaniel asked.

“At least three weeks by my reckoning.” Sam replied.

“My god, that long? I had hoped I’d made more progress on foot, but it was heavy going. I’m starving, I don’t suppose you have any food?”

“I do now,” Sam said, picking up the machete from the floor of the canoe.

∼ Ian Sputnik

The Visitors

July 10, 2024July 4, 2024 ~ Charles Gramlich ~ 6 Comments

The alien spacecraft slipped into Earth orbit. It looked like a giant saucer, as too many movies had predicted. No writing or symbols appeared anywhere on the hull. It glowed mysteriously.

The world governments learned of it quickly and would have preferred to keep it from common knowledge, but there were too many eyes in the sky. People found out and began to panic or rejoice, depending on their particular mindset.

The governments kept their missiles trained on the craft and kept their militaries on high alert. But then nothing happened. The thing just floated there. That increased the panic.

No one knows for sure who launched the first nuclear warhead at the UFO. Probably one of the smaller countries. But the spaceship used some kind of gravity weapon to slap the missile away. It crashed not far outside Moscow and grew an ugly radioactive toadstool.

Russia, figuring it was China or the US taking advantage of the distraction to attack them, launched a retaliation. China and the US responded with their own retaliations. France, Britain, Israel, Pakistan, and India joined the fray. No one shot any more missiles at the UFO, only at each other.

A week after it arrived, the massive alien craft slipped out of orbit. There were no eyes in the sky to notice. And not many left on the ground either.

∼ Charles Gramlich

The Concubus of the Palms

June 26, 2024June 13, 2024 ~ TheDamned ~ 4 Comments

Checking the palm of my hand, all those lines leading where? If I stretch back the skin, I can open things up, peer between the cracks. I perceive nothing but a white screen. There’s pros and cons with every addiction. Mine keeps me alive. I need new parasites every seven days. I’m weak and shaky now, and if I don’t find and absorb more, I’ll fade and die. I need to shock and rejuvenate my body. Sure, it’s in exchange for absolute dependency, but I make my own choices.

I close my palm line opening, drop my hand to my lap, then fiddle with my computer as my first client enters, a tiny wrinkled up woman wearing several layers of ragged clothing, pulling a cart filled with garbage bags. She leans to one side as she limps into the room, lowering herself to the chair using an intricately cut wood cane. I can only hope she’s infected.

“I was pushed into the road by a crazy woman. She spat my face, and I hurt my hip and back,” her voice quavers.

I look up from the computer screen.

“Ms. Bonella, tell me about the pusher.”

“She came running and screaming towards me. A blur. She spat in my face. I know I was her target.”

I nod and write something on a piece of paper. The clients always like that.

She adjusts the various kerchiefs draped round her neck and head, multicoloured cloths of blue and white. “The bank echelons sent her. It was a warning.”

“Yes, she’s their agent,” I reassure. “She was carrying infective parasite cells in her body like so many maggots and passed them on to you with her spittle.”

I take a kleenex and wipe drool off my mouth. I smell the high already, but I’ve got to play the counsellor game. Ms. Bonella wipes off the edges of her own mouth too, using a filthy brown tissue and eyes me up and down. “Are you a witch?”

“No, Ms. Bonella. Like my card and website say, I’m a palm reader who helps individuals with their difficulties.”

“I am an old woman,” she continues. “What am I going to do?”

“You are already infected,” I tell her. “From that pusher sent by the bank echelons. You must obtain treatment.”
Mrs. Bonella pulls her topcoat layer around her, then leans forward some more. She pauses before speaking. “Mistress Cindy, the infections are rolling around inside me. Giving me random electric shocks.” She rubs her side “Those evil bankers are stealing from me. I am a good person. In my will, I want to give everything to my grand nieces, for their university education.”

“That is very generous of you,” I say, and I mean it.

“Hold up the palms of your hands,” I tell Ms. Bonella.

I walk round my desk and kneel before the client.

“Look at the ceiling,” I tell her.

I trace along one palm and proceed to open a riverline of skin with thumb and forefinger. As I suspected, one milky blue eye shows in the line gap. It passes by slowly. Then I see another. Mrs. Bonella winces. I wipe my mouth off again, for I’m drooling with want. The echelons are in her system, those so-called electric shocks are their liquid forms pulsing through her veins. They’re keeping her decrepit body alive by circulating, but she doesn’t know that.

She holds her side tighter. “They’re prodding me right now, Mistress Cindy.”

“It’ll be okay,” I reassure her again. “I want you to place your palms in my palms.”

She sits and I kneel, and her tiny hands push into mine. I close my eyes and feel the bulbs of the parasites through her skin. I move my knuckles along Ms. Bonella’s fingertips, making note of every whorl and line.

“Don’t be alarmed, Ms. Bonella,” I say. “I’m going to suck out these invaders.”

I put my lips on her left palm and prise open the central palm line with my teeth and jaws.

My tongue slips between that line. I stick the tip, then the rest of it into Mrs. Bonella’s palm, deep and deeper. As they parasite eyeballs go by, I grab them, lick them up into my mouth and swallow. It’s a warm, satisfying drink.

“What are you doing?” asks Ms. Bonella, “I feel so weak.”

“You are being drained of the echelon energy,” I tell her. “It’s natural to feel that way.”

I go back in with my teeth and jaw, this time for the other palm, prising it open and sticking my tongue in the opening.

Ms. Bonella slumps back in her chair.
“You can move your fingers now,” I say as I devour the last of the parasites.

Ms. Bonella tries to stand. She holds onto the chair for a moment

“That was very strange treatment, Mistress Cindy.”

“Go home and rest,” I say. “Tomorrow you’ll throw away that cane.”

“I feel so weak.”

“No charge for the treatment,” I say, as I experience a few seconds of guilt.

She’ll never throw away that cane, without the energy from the parasites. When she sleeps, she will never wake up.

As she totters out the door, I feel my strength rising. The parasite electric impulses whirl within me, merge into my brain. I lift my palm and pull back the skin. No white space now. An eye stares back, then rolls by, and another one peeps out. I whirl my arms around so fast they blur.

I’m alive again, in full strength and vitality, resurrected by the very parasites that consume my soul, even as they crank my body high.

“I’m sorry Mrs…,”

I pause and then flail my arms again. My legs kick out. I’m wild and high. All I remember of the old woman are the lines on her palms, widening, opening, showing me inside.

∼ Harrison Kim

The Silence Below

June 19, 2024May 16, 2024 ~ TheDamned ~ 4 Comments

Jerry had always been drawn to the mysterious and the unknown. So when he found himself lost in the dense forest, he couldn’t help but feel the thrill of excitement. Amidst the serene embrace of nature, Jerry found tranquility in the solace of the forest. As he trudged through the underbrush, his senses heightened for hidden dangers, he came across a concealed path. It led deeper into the woods. With a casual shrug, Jerry stepped onto the path. His sense of adventure rose louder, smothering the doubts screaming in his mind.

Jerry followed the path and emerged into a small clearing. His laid eyes upon a village unlike any he had ever seen. The buildings were quaint yet eerie, their windows dark and devoid of life. What struck him the most was the absence of sound. No birds, no bugs, not even the rustling of leaves. It was an oppressive silence that hung like a wet blanket in the air.

Intrigued, Jerry cautiously made his way into the village. His footsteps echoed loudly on the cobblestone street. The few villagers he encountered glanced at him with wary eyes before averting their gaze. Their faces displayed a silent concern for the outsider that had stumbled into their silent domain. Jerry observed with curiosity as the villagers communicated through intricate gestures. Their hands weaving a silent tapestry of meaning in the air. A shared language born of necessity. They exchanged knowing glances as they looked at hastily scrawled notes passed between them. They refused to speak a single word.

As night fell, Jerry’s unease only deepened. The silence seemed to intensify, pressing down on him like a weight. As his nerves began to frazzle, he sought refuge in a small inn. A grizzled innkeeper offered him a room for the night. As he led him to his room, their eyes met in a moment of silent understanding. The unspoken tension hung heavy in the air. The absence of words between them spoke volumes, the oppressive silence wrapped around them like a spider’s web.

Alone in his room, Jerry couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong with the village. He tossed and turned in his bed. Unable to sleep, he began to pace the floor. He paused. He thought he heard a faint scratching sound coming from beneath the floorboards.

His curiosity piqued, he tore up the loose floorboards revealing an open, hidden trap door leading down into the darkness. Jerry leaned on the hanging door, its ancient hinges gave a grumbled whine. The stairs descending into the blackened void were weathered and worn. Jerry retrieved the flashlight from the night table. He illuminated the shadowy corridor, and he stepped down. The ancient stone steps creaked softly with each cautious footfall. His flashlight caused the shadows to dance across the dusty walls creating eerie phantoms that beckoned him to venture deeper. As he dared to go further into the underground tunnels, Jerry discovered ancient runes etched into the walls, their meanings lost to time. He gently caressed the outlines. He began to sweat as adrenaline coursed through his body. He was unnerved by the sudden rush of anxiety. However, it was more the sense of dread hanging in the air that chilled him to the bone.

Jerry explored the tunnels. Deep within, the air grew stale as a warm silent breeze wafted over him. He stumbled upon a chamber unlike any he had seen. A vast cavern with a gaping chasm in the center. In the dim light of his flashlight, Jerry beheld a grotesque sight. It was a writhing mass of tentacles coiling and undulating in the blackness. The slimy appendages reached out hungrily towards him. Glowing eyes peered out from amidst the squirming mass, their malevolent gaze fixated on Jerry. The creature seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy. Its form shifting and contorting in a nightmarish dance as if to defy reality itself.

As Jerry stood on the precipice of the chasm, a chilling realization washed over him like a wave of icy dread. In that moment, he realized that the absence of sound was not just an eerie aspect of the village but a haunting reminder of the looming threat lurking beneath. He realized that it wasn’t merely a choice but a necessity born from the need to keep the creature at bay. As he faced the creature, its own silence seemed to scream louder than any sound he had ever heard. It was a deafening void that echoed with the weight of centuries, old fear and desperation.The villagers were bound by an ancient pact to keep the creature below at constant rest. For even the slightest sound would awaken it from its slumber.

But it was too late, Jerry’s presence had disturbed the being, and now it hungered for sound. As it surged towards him, he scrambled for freedom. He realized that sound was both his enemy and his salvation.

Jerry’s heart pounded in his chest as he stumbled backward. His mind raced with primal panic. Before he could react, the creature’s slimy tentacles shot out at lightning speed, wrapping around his limbs and pulling him closer with an inexorable force. Despite his terror, Jerry’s throat constricted in fear. It rendered him speechless as he struggled against the creature’s grasp. His scream was trapped inside of him like a caged beast yearning to be free.

With the creature’s tentacles tightening around him like a vice, Jerry’s fear reached its breaking point. In a burst of desperation, he unleashed a deafening scream that echoed through the cavernous chamber.

As Jerry’s scream tore through the silence, the creature recoiled, lifting Jerry higher into the air. It howled as its form contorted and twisted as if assaulted by an unseen force. With a guttural roar, it released its grip on Jerry who was tossed onto the floor. He watched, gasping for breath. As if in response to the creature’s rising, the very ground beneath them began to rumble. The walls of the cavern began to groan and crack under the strain.

The ground under the village started to split apart, fissures snaked their way through the cobblestone streets. With an explosion of dirt and rubble, the creature burst forth from the ground with an ear splitting roar. Its massive form towering over the village like a wrathful titan. Homes crumbled in its wake, reduced to splinters and dust as the villagers ran for cover. Their silent world was shattered by the unleashed fury of the being below. Its massive tentacles lashed out indiscriminately, reducing buildings to rubble. With each step, the ground trembled beneath its monstrous form.

Even as the village lay in ruins and the creature’s hunger sated, there was no sign of it returning to its peaceful slumber. Instead it continued its relentless march. Its glowing eyes fixed on the horizon with an insatiable thirst for destruction. As it disappeared into the depths of the forest, a sense of dread fell over Jerry and the villagers. They knew that the true horror had only just begun.

∼ Kathleen McCluskey

Room 57

June 12, 2024May 27, 2024 ~ Lee Andrew Forman ~ 3 Comments

Adorned with only a simple handle and the number 57, the door stood closed. I stared at it for some time, eyes darting between the numerals and brass knob. It was one among many in this seemingly endless hall, but it garnered my interest more than any other. I couldn’t say why. The reason was just as much a mystery as what was behind that door.

Sweat dripped down my brow as I contemplated opening it. I feared I might be caught, only more reason for them to keep me here… But my curiosity outweighed my worries. I reached for the handle and turned it.

I was surprised it wasn’t locked. Maybe there was nothing there to behold other than an empty room. The darkness seemed to ebb from the small sliver between the door and frame. I pushed it all the way, only to see more darkness. The light from the hallway couldn’t travel beyond that threshold. It was as if the room itself pushed it away.

I had to know what was in there, so I stepped inside. The door slammed shut behind me, leaving me sightless. “Hello?” I called out.

Heavy breathing was the only reply.

Then the sound of dripping.

A rancid stench assaulted my nose as I felt warm breath on my face. Then agony as unseen teeth tore away at my flesh.

∼ Lee Andrew Forman

The Ocean Beach Motel

June 5, 2024May 7, 2024 ~ Marge Simon ~ 4 Comments

I am the spirit of the Ocean Beach Motel off Route 66. My office is run by a witchy clairvoyant name of Madeline Williams. In exchange for her labor, I allow her unlimited use of several rooms for her personal business, no questions asked. We have an excellent working relationship. Between the two of us, we know the score on what goes on inside my rooms.

Room #5: Winning the Lottery had brought her more grief than joy by far. Dorothy Ann Thomas wasn’t expecting company. She rented this room for a month, told no one, not even her sister and certainly not her son, David. He was a liar and a thief and had disgraced himself beyond forgiveness in her eyes. She’d given most of the money to the local animal shelter. Somehow, David found out she’d won, and showed up at her door. She let him in, explaining how she didn’t have the money anymore. He snarled and shoved her. She fell, cracking her head against the corner of a dresser. He saw something was wrong with her neck. He didn’t stay.

Room #11: Rodrick Pierce set the bottle of Jim Beam on the bedside table with a glass from the kitchen. “Nice little kitchen, I could stay here until I rot,” he laughed. “Nobody would notice.” His wife had left him on his birthday last year. That was bad, but not as bad as being fired that morning, two months short of retirement. He cleared out his office, got in his car and drove until nearly dark. Stopped at a liquor store, and then found my place. He’s lucky my rooms provide stout rods on the bathtubs, strong enough to hold a man dangling by his neck. Rodrick will use his belt if he can’t find any rope around here. Probably won’t even finish that bottle before he decides to get the job done.

Room #19: She’d been a little drunk when Robert checked them in. She wasn’t “that kind of girl”, she’d told him that repeatedly, plus he had to promise over and over how it wasn’t going to be a one-night stand. “No, Sherry, I promise. Being with you is all I want. You want me too, right?” And so on, but he had to get another drink down her before she’d let him unhook her bra. After it was over, she fell asleep, or so he thought. He was sneaking out the door at the crack of dawn when he heard “Robert Botts, that better not be you going out that door!” He turned, surprised, to see his silly little Sherry holding a Glock. Where it came from, he couldn’t imagine. “One night stand,” that’s what this was all along!” she cried. Robert didn’t have a chance.

Indeed, there are more like this on any given day. As motels go, I do a pretty interesting business. Another example, if you like naughty, the extraordinary things that go on in my hot tub never disappoint either. Stop in, sometime!

∼ Marge Simon

The Whisper of a Lady

May 29, 2024May 16, 2024 ~ afstewart ~ 4 Comments

I dream of her, my phantom, her haunting face stretched taut with pale skin, wispy white hair falling limp around her red-rimmed eyes. She stares, blind and bleeding, her lips mouthing silent whispers against the aether. Somehow I know she is pleading, screaming, her words drowning inside whatever hell has claimed her. I tremble when she reaches out to me, her fingers inches from my cheek…
That is when I awake from my nightmare, drenched in sweat. I should be relieved, the night terrors banished by the sun. Yet, my torment continues throughout the daylight hours, for she never leaves me.
She is my shadow in the light, the ghost that haunts my waking hours and bleeds me dry for peace. A manifestation of primal fear and my eternal pity, my personal apparition. Her existence instills both the desire to flee and the need to save her.
Am I mad? I have no answer to that question.
Perhaps I might welcome insanity.
The waking world now threads around me unfinished in shades of grey and gloom, with no vibrancy of colour save red; it taints everything, everywhere. I long for sleep and my nightmares. I long for her pale face and crimson eyes. Each night I sink deeper beneath the surface of my dreams and she draws closer to me; my skin craves her touch now, and it is harder to wake in the morning. I never leave the house and barely eat, often staring at my bed, forcing myself to stay awake.
What if I close my eyes and never wake up? Would I finally be with her?
The uncertainty of it all anchors me to this world. Will she bring my oblivion or will I be her deliverance? I don’t know. The not knowing drives me, swirls my mind in frantic visions and terrors. Yet, I feel I will understand soon, for her siren’s song becomes harder to resist. When her fingers caress my face, I will have my answer.
Only then will my nightmare end.
At least I pray it will.

~ A. F. Stewart

Nostalgia

May 22, 2024May 4, 2024 ~ Miriam H. Harrison ~ 4 Comments

What I remember most from my last relationship is his eyes. They were blue – pale at the center, dark around the edges. Sometimes they would change, lightening when he would smile or darkening when he was angry. Oh, how I miss those eyes!

Well, missed those eyes.

I fixed that problem soon enough. Now I can see his eyes whenever I like. Of course, it’s not quite the same. They don’t change when he smiles, but then again, he doesn’t smile these days. Instead, I keep them in a jar, hidden away in my room. I take them out every now and then, for old time’s sake.

But not too often. I don’t want my new boyfriend to get jealous. As it is, I’m worried that things aren’t going too well between us. And I must admit, I would really miss his lips . . .

∼ Miriam H. Harrison

Hot Feet

May 15, 2024May 4, 2024 ~ Richard Meldrum ~ 2 Comments

It was hot; one of those vile, humid city days when the heat was oppressive and inescapable. Despite the early hour, the temperature was already ridiculously high. The heat wave had been going on for a week and even the overnight temperatures were ridiculously high. He stood at the bus-stop, waiting for the morning bus to arrive. It was late. He was already sweating, he could feel damp patches forming under his arms and sweat trickling down his back and face. The city streets were busy, the traffic roaring and honking through rush hour. Across the street the noise of drills, saws and hammering came from a construction site. The city noise disturbed and distracted him. There was a kid next to him, wearing headphones plugged into a cell phone. The kid must have had the volume turned right up, because he could hear the music over the sound of the city…the thump, thump, thump of a drumbeat, with some indistinct vocals screaming out. His head started to ache, the pain pulsing in time to the music. His feet, encased in cheap leather shoes, absorbed the heat from the sidewalk. He felt angry, on edge. Stupid kid, stupid music; a pointless noise. The temperature increased, his head felt as if it was about to split open, his feet burned. He could feel his fingers balling into fists. He was aware he was about to hit the kid, knock him down and smash his phone to stop the noise. He took a huge, deep breath of warm, fetid air and willed himself to stop.

It wasn’t the kid; it was the heat. The damned heat.

Without thinking he reached down, removed his shoes and pulled off his socks. He stepped off the sidewalk onto a small grassy area next to the bus stop. It was part of the entrance to an office building. A sprinkler sprayed water onto this modest green space. He stood on the freshly watered grass, feeling the cool blades between his toes and the moist soil on his soles. His headache suddenly diminished, the pain dissipating in an instant. He felt cooler and he could feel himself calming down. He looked up to see the kid grinning at him. He smiled back. He knew he looked foolish, but he didn’t care. Being laughed at was better than him hurting a kid half his age.

The bus arrived and he climbed aboard barefoot, clutching his shoes and socks. He whistled as he paid his fare. The air conditioned interior of the bus was a blessing, but it was only the icing on the cake. His day was already looking up.

∼ RJ Meldrum

Pockets

May 8, 2024March 18, 2024 ~ Elaine Pascale ~ 2 Comments

“That’s adorable and it fits you like a dream,” Anna exclaimed with enough enthusiasm to equal her reaction to the last twelve dresses Tammy had tried on.

Tammy was not as easy to convince. “I just wish I weren’t a size 16.”

“What does the size on the label have to do with how it looks?”

Tammy rolled her eyes. “Easy for your child-less body to say. I’d still be a size 8 if I had stopped at two.”

“And miss out on the incomparable Miss Bliss? What would the world be without her!” Anna was often in the position of cheerleading for Tammy. “Some cause happiness, others impede it,” Anna’s mother used to say. Tammy was of the impeding nature. She would seek misery and wallow in it for as long as she could. Anna always prayed for a change in Tammy, or an end to their friendship that wouldn’t require Anna to do the dumping, whichever came first.

Tammy frowned at her reflection. “Bliss gave me an apron of fat…”

Anna had grown tired of her friend’s dour mood. She had offered to take Tammy shopping and buy her a new dress for her birthday. Anna had even hired a sitter. She hadn’t expected her generosity to be repaid with complaints.

She decided to move away from Tammy and walk about the store before she said something she would regret. She stopped at the rack that was the furthest from the dressing room and pushed through the hangers to alleviate her frustration. When she felt her composure return, she grabbed a handful of dresses in size 16 and returned to the dressing room.

“Maybe one of these?” Anna held her breath, hoping that Tammy would find something suitable so they could leave.

Tammy rifled through the garments, barely glancing at any of them. She was scowling and muttering and Anna feared they would be stuck in the store all afternoon.

Anna’s fears dissipated when Tammy gasped. “Where did you find this? I’ve been through every rack in here.”

“I know,” Anna muttered as Tammy hurried behind the curtain to try on the dress. When Tammy emerged, she had a large grin on her face.

“This one, right Anna? It’s perfect.” She ran her hands over her hips and squealed, “Pockets! It even has pockets!”

“That’s convenient.” Anna agreed. Pockets were indeed the Holy Grail of women’s fashion. Anna was currently rocking a fanny pack due to wearing jeans that had decorative stitching in place of pouches for stashing a debit card and cell phone.

“It’s so slimming.” Tammy continued to admire herself and Anna didn’t have the heart to tell her that the color was hideous and that it looked like a shapeless sack on her body. She was so relieved to finally be done with the shopping excursion that she believed there was no harm in allowing Tammy to see something different in the mirror.

***

The next time they met, Tammy was wearing the dress. They ran some errands at the mall and decided to grab lunch in the food court. Tammy stood in the middle of the horseshoe of food stands, hands stuffed in her pockets and said, “I don’t know what I want.” Anna was accustomed to this ritual, it usually consisted of a discussion of calories over flavor and a list of the prior month of meals Tammy had eaten. This was followed by wallowing in misery that they could no longer eat whatever they wanted. This time, Tammy added, “I wish someone would just tell me what to eat.”

The moment she finished speaking, a man from the kabob stand approached with a tray containing two plates full of food. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said, “we need to swap out our grill; this is what was left. We have to discard the food that no one has ordered, but I was wondering if you would like it…on the house.”

Anna’s jaw dropped as Tammy thanked the man and took the tray. “You just wished for food.”

Tammy nodded. “It’s been happening a lot. I put my hands in my pockets and then I get what I wish for.”

“Have you tried asking for money?” Anna joked.

Tammy’s expression changed. “I did. But I got something else, instead.” She nodded toward an empty table. “Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

When it was time to leave, they could not find their vehicle. Tammy had driven so Anna had relinquished responsibility of remembering where they had parked.

“Don’t worry,” Tammy assured Anna and then put her hands in her pockets. “I wish I didn’t have to be bothered.”

Anna was about to remark on the vagueness of the wish when a man pulled up. “You called an Uber?” he asked.

“—No,” Anna began but Tammy was already climbing into the vehicle.

Instead of being her usual, miserable self, Tammy proceeded to flirt with the driver the entire trip. Anna was fed up and ready to leave once they arrived at Tammy’s house, but Tammy insisted she come in.

“Your behavior was crazy,” Anna scolded as she stepped over the threshold.

“What? That was harmless.”

Anna was about to remind Tammy that she was married when she saw the inside of Tammy’s house. There was a new large screen TV and a full-wall fish tank with exotic fish. The furniture was also new and clearly expensive.

“Where did this come from?” It was no secret that Tammy usually struggled to pay her bills.

“John.”

“He got a raise?”

“He died.”

For the second time that day, Anna’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean, he died?”

“I told you I wished for money, but then…”

Anna could not believe what she was hearing. “You made a wish and he died. And you did nothing? You told no one? You didn’t even have a funeral?”

Tammy shrugged. “I didn’t have to. I just put my hands in my pockets—”

Anna had heard enough. She went down the hall to the kids’ rooms, expecting to see luxury there as well. Instead, the rooms were cleaned out as if no one had ever lived there.

“Tammy…where are the kids?”

Tammy blushed. “It’s not really my fault. I made a wish…”

“To get rid of them?” Anna felt sick.

Tammy shook her head. “To be free of this burden.” She gestured to her body, circling her abdomen.

“You have to be careful! Your wishes are horrible. Stop wishing, and get your hands out of those pockets!”

Tammy’s face grew red with anger. She yelled, “For once I wish I could just be left alone! I wish you would go away so I could be as miserable as I want to be.”

Anna did not get the chance to look before she hit the floor, but she guessed that Tammy’s hands had been in her pockets.

∼ Elaine Pascale