Fiction – Page 2 – The McNeese Review

The Sound of Silence

The Sound of Silence Amanda Hays __________ Ray couldn’t decide which of the oozing, bleeding bags of meat would most please his brother. The overhead lights in the meat section of the Piggy Wiggly were dim, the air cool. After much deliberation, he tossed one of the packages into his…

Leaving Leaf River

Leaving Leaf River Hannah Kroonblawd __________ The dining room’s hardwood floor was waxed so mirror-like that Rebekah could see her face reflected off it. Mom had never put down a rug, thinking it too expensive or too stuffy or too much like Jenna Fairchild’s dining room, all cut glass and…

Apple

Apple Joey Poole __________ My father wasn’t into Spock ears and toy phasers and such. He hated the term “Trekkie,” and he didn’t have a wall full of still-boxed action figures of Worf in all his different uniforms. We didn’t go to Star Trek conventions or stand in line for…

Accident

Accident Aharon Levy __________ For fifty-seven years the river had done what it was supposed to and nobody had given it a thought. But now its level was down to where it was all some people talked about, revealing the slimy stones and rusted shopping carts it had always hidden…

Queen for a Day

Queen for a Day Emily Collins __________ I find my mother in the garage curled like a cat on top of the washing machine—something she hasn’t done since I was small and hurting and drunk off her love. I stand beside the washing machine and shake Mother gently. Her shoulder…

Two Flash Stories by Laton Carter

Laton Carter __________ This Pleasing Sting Lady Mary Wroth was having a devil of a time with Auto-Correct. In this strang labourinth how shall I turne? she cried out. But her words were deleted and revised: In this strangled labor, without shallots I return. Shallots. Had someone ordered soup? And…

Make Up Forever

Make Up Forever Anu Kandikuppa __________ I haven’t broken completely with my sister, but we don’t get along well with each other. Actually we can barely speak one civil word to each other. She has a way of looking me up and down when we meet that makes me want…

Acadia Forest and Han’s Solo

Han’s Solo Mark Blickley __________ Acadia Forest by Keith Goldstein I’ve had this recurring Bridge Dream for nearly fifteen years. It first appeared one night after being exhausted by cram studying for my Bar Mitzvah. In this initial fantasy I was a swaddled infant left on the very beginning of…

FOMO

FOMO William Auten __________ Today at ten in the morning, Mr. Snickerdoodle isn’t having much to do with the scenery and the commotion and the crew and the props passing back and forth in front of him so many times that neither his tawny eyes nor his tufted ears can…

No Sweeter Fat

No Sweeter Fat Jess E. Jelsma __________ I first discover I am pregnant in the grimy employee bathroom at Archibald’s Steakhouse. The room is so small that, sitting on the seat with my knees spread, I can reach out and lay my palms against all four cinder block walls. The…