Torsade Literary Space Bad Counsel (part four)
Short Stories Bad Counsel (part four) Saturday, Karen had asked if she had anything to wash, so Andrée scooped up everything from the foot of the bed, the chair back, the bathroom rug. Sunday, Karen had taken a carload of boxes to the new place. So […]
Bad Counsel (part three)
Short Stories Bad Counsel (part three) “Every one of these is rented,” Leo told her. Then, peering at Andrée: “They gotta sweep the rug. What’s that doing?” He pointed to a ceiling panel, askew in its slot over the exit sign. Leo kicked away the door […]
Frédéric Boutet: The Birthmark (complete)
Frédéric Boutet A Few Blackmails The Birthmark (complete) “Watch the road. See if anyone comes,” ordered the blind man, a meagre fellow without age, wrapped in a mackintosh the color of dust. Through a hole in the hedge where they’d […]
Bad Counsel (part two)
Short Stories Bad Counsel (two) Andrée begins to see. Andrée already, to her mother’s chagrin, lives rent free. But she gets it, how Sam might need six months or a year, maybe more, to build his house. Leo has talked to her about inspectors. You do […]
Bad Counsel (part one)
Short Stories Bad Counsel (part one) This is one of the bigger things, this teaching of lessons. We descend a hill, soon to stand among the cattails at the lip of the frog pond, with Andrée and Sam Magruder, a man who may be her father. […]
Be a Helper (conclusion)
Be a Helper (part three) He calmed himself over ginger cake. There was Mrs. Langham to consider, whose husband thought her not worth bringing along, nor asking what she thought herself about the woolens. And if the sprites wreaked havoc with the crops… You couldn’t call it sense, punishing someone […]
Be a Helper (part two)
Be a Helper (part two) “I’ll card,” said Whimbrel. “Or I’ll sit at the wheel and Gadwall can hand me up.” “None of you will spin. You spin to excess.” Jorinda, bless her, almost had relieved Bede of his entourage. The sprites could be drawn off to bunch at each […]
Be a Helper (part one)
Be a Helper (part one) Now it is the case with sprites, that one rule curtails them. In the Realm are a thousand variants, as to types and strengths of magic; and probably a thousand areas of specialization. Groundworts and lugdors have their wishes, as do box turtles and flying […]
The Ad Said (conclusion)
Short Stories The Ad Said (part two) “No, they’ll have chairs at the station. We’ll have to move careful, soon as we get into town, see if we spot anything in the gutter.” “Yeah…I wish we had just a dollar, so we could get coffee and a snack […]
The Ad Said (part one)
Short Stories The Ad Said (part one) The ad said: “Girls wanted. Good wages. Steady hours.” It said also: “Must pass physical exam.” “You’re crazy,” their mother said. Hester smacked Hermina’s arm. “Come on! Let’s go down to the corner.” The corner meant the drugstore, where they might […]