Arthur opened one of the Fed-Ex envelopes on the mantel and inspected its contents. Pictures and a medical certificate of a boy named Kelvin White slid out of the envelope. He remembered the name from the local newspaper item he had read two days ago. The boy had died after being hit by a stray [...]
She found the Colt 1911 in a box behind an old pair of snow boots. It was old, some of its metallic luster lost after years of storage. Her grandfather carried it at Normandy, shot Germans with it, served two tours with it strapped to his hip until he returned home. It was never fired [...]
“The cereal aisle is the devil’s workshop, our children are tempted just like Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden” Bishop Tobias T. Truth bellowed to a stunned congregation. Friday night services started in the usual way, the choir singing “Just another walk with Thee”, organist Melody Mockingbird providing direction and accompaniment.
The lone [...]
I have never once seen him sleep. Always, I manage to fall asleep first, drifting off against the bony surface of his chest, arms and legs wrapped around him like one of those miniature magnetic stuffed animals that are condemned to eternally hug pens. No matter where we are, I am always the first one [...]
My father talked in “sayings”—trying to work at least one into every conversation.
“There is no good time for something bad to happen,” he said for the umpteenth time while I stood in front of him crying over an injustice.
Tired, really tired, of his lack of sympathy and verbal abuse, I stomped on his bare foot [...]
I was late getting home from work.
Only six hours.
I walked on tip-toes carrying my shoes.
Sarah was sitting in the living room with the TV on mute. Wrestling illuminated the room.
It was a full moon.
Need I say more?
About the Author
Paul Beckman
Paul Beckman is a real estate salesman, a snorkeler, occasionally a diver, a photographer, a grandfather, [...]
She’d be sitting alone, smoking a cigarette or drinking a glass of red wine in some sparsely-populated bar somewhere uptown, staring into the strained and obvious light.
Inevitably, some guy with beer nuts and Budweiser on his breath would accost her with some line like, “Let’s be laughing together next year,” and flash her a smile [...]
Her mother yelled, “You were an accident! I would’ve had an abortion if I could have!”, and this was like the warden telling the innocent prisoner, “Our mistake, you’re free to go.” Now she would have to answer to no one.
She wept with the joy of release. “Thank you, mother.” She choked on her sobs. [...]
(based on the painting Peach Tree in Bloom at Arles, C. 1888, by Vincent Van Gogh)
There is a boy. The boy is standing in front of a munificent peach tree in all the splendor and atrophy of his afternoon existing. Shadows? Yes. There are midday shadows, hiding and seeking, long and greyish to offset the [...]
He came from the sun looking for darkness, or at least a little shade. All he wanted was to rest his eyes for a bit, which is why he chose the Earth – darkness abounds.
His incandescent wings took him just outside a California orchard where he walked in the cooling shade of a grove of [...]
