‘Drab. Who would design anything in drab?’ Carole looked around. It seemed everything sang a dirge of that same ‘blah’ color. Evelyn entered. Carole stopped sketching and watched her daughter make herself breakfast. She sat opposite her mother without speaking. “Good morning…” Evelyn nodded and took a bite. Carole returned…

Dean staggered into the kitchen rubbing his bleary eyes. “Coffee. Gotta have coffee. My kingdom for a cup!” His kids, Lucy and Rex, looking at the morning paper, barely reacted. They’d heard it many times. Rex focused on the sports section. Lucy commandeered the calendar page. “Where’s your mother?” He…

As if the sun shines only on her, all eyes fall on ‘the woman’ as she strolls across the classic Italian city square. A flock of pigeons parts before her. Dressed simply, she looks better than those watching. In awe, they stare. She’s perfect. ‘The man,’ distracted, almost collides with…

Go with the flow… Adrian dragged the last of his stuff into his freshman year dorm room. ‘First dibs on the bed…’ he thought. He arranged his luggage to unpack as needed. He left space for his roommate, whom he had not met. Adrian sat on the bed and checked…

Who shines? ‘Here we go,’ thought Angel, standing outside the rear entrance of Joaquin’s. About to start his shift as busboy, he wondered, ‘Should I go in? I never felt like this.’ He weighed his options. ‘Why should I quit? It’s not my problem. Let them sort it out. …

Whatcha wanna do tonight? Elaine said, “I hate to tell you this…” Greg looked up from his newspaper. “What?” “Oh, never mind.” “Elaine, what?” “I don’t want to fight.” “Who’s fighting? Talk.” “We’re… in a rut.” “We are?” He reached for her. “Greg, our hamster wheel…” He stared. “It rattles…

Ian needed an entry point for his story. No portal, no story. The sun shone through his window, creating a bright trapezoid on his floor. Dust drifted through the beam. The house was quiet. All he needed was a simple dust mote on which his story’s beautiful snow flake could…

Suggested by, ‘101 Zen Koans,’ by Secret of Zen. Riku’s young wife, Yuuna, became ill. The doctor’s tried everything but told Riku to prepare, her death was nigh. Riku loved Yuuna deeply. Seeing her suffer tortured him. He gladly tended to her smallest need until she was gone. When she…

Was this Eric’s last stand? He hoped not. But the past year made him think it might be. Eric stood before the one room cabin. It was his, a gift from Simon, his dying friend. Eric had never seen it before. Spiders had spun brocades under the eaves. He felt…