Torsade Literary Space The Tambinder Engine (part three)
The Tambinder Engine A McAlley Story (part three) She bagged the customer’s bottles with care, passed them across the counter. This one leaned to her. “Dustin is out of the country, I’ve heard. I know someone taking a flight tomorrow, who can carry a letter.” Deenie’s eyes shot all around […]
Tourmaline: The Enemy (part one)
The Enemy (part one) Frederick as a voice passing her door, fading down an empty hallway. Frederick glimpsed on a public screen, holding up a cardboard sign: ALLIANCE OUT. Or a face that seemed entirely his, belonging to Mrs. Leonhardt’s new boarder, a young student. Not a face to be loved […]
The Tambinder Engine (part two)
The Tambinder Engine A McAlley Story (part two) Leaving, she scanned hard the direction Matthew would have gone. Maybe I’ve seen a ghost. Maybe I’ve had a fit. The bad air… At her rear bumper, she laid her armload on the gravel. The white truck had water jugs in the […]
Depression Glass (part four)
Depression Glass (part four) “Oh, that’s pretty. Is it, like, a fern?” “It’s a poisonous plant called hemlock.” “But, you mean, hemlock? How’s it growing here?” “You got me. I can look it up.” He patted his phone pocket. They were under hot sun, on weedy gravel, moving down from […]
The Tambinder Engine (part one)
The Tambinder Engine A McAlley Story (part one) The subject was a Carmadge, from the far side of the world. She had taken her car on a poking, cautious drive, where guardrails were off, where asphalt webbed itself into cracked rings, undermined by rain squalls come too late. Horses were […]
Tourmaline: Nedforum (conclusion)
Tourmaline Nedforum (part seven) The blue came alive as a moving picture, uniformed journalists furious over their phones, riding moving sidewalks behind bulletproof panels, along the plaza that approached the High Court building. Between the walks a motorcade moved […]
Tourmaline: Nedforum (part six)
Tourmaline Nedforum (part six) But a vision came, of himself too obviously up to something, not at rest on a mental health day, but outfitted for the office, escorting his mother around the market booths. Buying anything, because ticketholders […]
Tourmaline: Nedforum (part five)
Tourmaline Nedforum (part five) “Hands off, what’s wrong with you? Is that for your girl?” “Pretty stone, hmm? I don’t know of a name for it.” He gave her the cutest face he could manage. He raised a smile, […]
Tourmaline: Nedforum (part four)
Tourmaline Nedforum (part four) But no, still never, he wanted nothing to do with Vonnie. Next he saw a coexistence between unforgiveness and acquiescence, the one a forever and the other a fleeting-by, conditional. But also, he thought of […]
Depression Glass (part three)
Depression Glass (part three) He picked up before the ringtone had played out. “Ms. Nixon!” He sounded pleased. Or, she thought better, like a reporter eager to cultivate a source. “Don’t call me that.” “Merrilee. Things going gangbusters between you and my nephew? We can all expect…” She cut him […]