WORDCHASM

Father Kaveatz stood at the window of his rectory bedroom, staring out across the yard through his weathered Galilean binoculars. He smiled knowingly at the cloud of dirt far in the distance.
“They’ll be men yet,” he sighed, elbowing me in the ribs. I shook my head, but couldn’t hold back a smirk.
“A little bit of [...]

Cast iron confident little soldiers in white polo shirts and grey slacks stomped across a grassy pasture. The football marched back and forth in a cloud of mud and soot. Traffic sped by the chicken wire fence. Honks and screeching brakes nullified the shouts out far beyond the bounds of supervision.
James clothesline-tackled Craig, catching his [...]

“Now, Jesus Christ is my personal God and Savior, but there’s something strange going on with the weather.”
He stood against the brick, outer wall of the walk-in clinic, wearing foakley sunglasses and a sporty polo shirt tucked into bright red basketball shorts. The accompanying red and white sneakers completed his “am I an assistant high [...]

“John McCain is a piece of shit.”
Bill nodded his head slowly, looking down with solemn concentration. Blue and red chips were spread across his Disabled Veteran’s Lodge Super Bingo Board. He laid down a red piece and turned his eyes to Darryl.
“I used to sit around after school and watch tv — man… those commercials [...]

Out on the late fringes of Spring, Hoosiers keep a low profile. No basketball, no soccer — only a  warming groundhog’s snowball could effect the slow pulse of May in Bloomington, Indiana. On Reclamation Sunday, our tiny, liberal, mid-western oasis breathes a sigh of relief. Student exodus turns down the volume; bike lanes reappear; adolescent [...]

The sun lowered slowly behind a row of ten dark-clad figures. Their downcast eyes looked up occasionally to meet the beady, yellow glance of alligators skimming the surface of the lake. A car door slammed and high heels clopped across the wooden bridge. Tiny flecks of twilight leapt off the black water and flickered in [...]

When Mitt Romney defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election, the United States of America paused. Open mouths dropped into laps. On that day, every citizen was alone. Baffled by the sound of one voice from the television set, they stared straight ahead — changing the channel, hoping to switch to another dream, even another [...]

Colton grabbed his tattered green rain jacket from the floor and slung it over his shoulders. The zipper went off track and ripped straight up to his neck leaving him in what looked like nightclub maternity wear. Sighing resignedly, he headed down the hallway, past the copier, water cooler, and out the door into [...]

He didn’t own a whistle. He didn’t wear a hat. He sloped along staring into the hazy blue sky in his striped oxford shirts, khaki slacks, and brown hiking boots. His long arm cradled a clipboard — a token to coaching conformity. He spoke to his young runners in pleasant, even tones — one-by-one — [...]

The Constelluchi brothers founded CStine Inc., shortly after graduation. The triplets all earned their Bachelors of Information Science and shared aspirations in the blossoming field of Nanotechnology. Their work quickly garnered much respect within inner circles. The up-and-coming tech giant Biosplat paid the brothers two million dollars to pursue their NanoMesh patent — a light-weight [...]

An empty three-year old, three bedroom sits in a breezy, dirt hill neighborhood. Furniture indentations and lightly scuffed walls cling to optimistic times — fading. A new coat of paint, fresh potpourri, and freshly baked cookies inject a shot of warmth. Dumpsters and dozers whine just outside — whispering the promises of tomorrow through echoes [...]

See a child. Water swept up my nose: a flip under waves or submerging too quickly. Pain and tears for pollen, dust, dander: fodder for weeping sinuses. Admire my cranial bulge. It fills to the brim between the eye sockets. I float from room to room, scattering tissues. Over the counter and into the living [...]

A whimsical unitard-clad gnome sits nestled at the very center of Earth. He strokes his technicolor beard — his only job. He does not wonder why. Why not? Micro-Geothermal wave thoughtslettes emanate from his creased forehead. Toasty broad spectrum nurtures while thirsty vibrations torture — towing the infinite loop. The gnome pilot stares unblinking straight [...]

I’m strolling on the pier with the gulls overhead swooping endlessly and a shadowy bulge emerges from the tide below — massive whale on the land — it lurches forward on flipper legs, bellowing through its slimy sword teeth. People scream hoarsely; they run, but I’m just standing. There’s something reassuring about this sluggish beast; [...]

I’m heading up a paved mountainside; it’s nearly straight-up and insanely, there is a dotted yellow line painted down the middle. My dashing steed is a white 1994 Dodge Neon. I’m halfway up and the engine is whining; it’s starting to sputter — gasping for relief. That beast of a hill takes over — can’t [...]

Jesse Durabill lived in the basement. Inaccurate? Perhaps. Six-thousand W. Rambling Rd was hardly a residence at all. In fact, his only neighbors thought they were all alone.
Just a door in the floor — heavy and wooden with iron handles — it laid nearly flat 50 meters from the road. Tumbleweeds loped across the dusty [...]

“Why are you interested in saving daylight?”
Gruff whispers scattered around the chamber. Long slender microphones rattled. Crotchety confusion gripped the room and bright fluorescent lights shone down atop slicked back hairplugs.
Stan squinted into the intense glare. His neck began to sweat, trickling further down all the way to the basin of his back. A pulse [...]

“Uh, yes. I’ll have the Bottomless Brickpasta, thanks.”
“How would you like that cooked, sir?”
“…”
“Rare, medium, well?”
“Well…?”
“Excellent. I’ll take your menus and can I start anyone off with an appeteazer?”
{From the right} “Why don’t we start off with a brisketcase and insulintinis all around?” {Nods around the table}
“Alrighty, I’ll have all that out to you shortly.” [...]