One-Sentence Stories

 

Food Fact
Mike Topp

Two glasses of orange juice contain more Vitamin C than one glass of orange juice.

 

When Margo Was At Peace
Sue Williams

She wasn’t doing half as much yoga back then, hadn’t even mastered the Salute to the Sun, didn’t listen to whale song or wear comfy hoodies or go for long walks down the beach; she never cuddled the neighbour’s cat or cut out chocolate or brewed herb tea, self-help books were a fad she mocked and she walked with a perfect poise; but in those days she dozed in her lover’s arms, certain he’d save her – she’d never have slept so deeply if she’d known how wrong she was.

 

Untitled
Drew DeGennero

The sun turns around and smiles like a child missing it’s front teeth, hiding the cars under the shadows like lost toys.

 

Bucket List
Anthony Oberbeck

Things to do before I die: ingredients for salsa and new mop head from Target; call dentist re: changing appointment; walk Spacer; look into ordering New Balances online; Simpsons at 7; DON”T FORGET EARLY MEETING FRI!!!!!!

 

Some Fun
Karen Lonzo

She’d had a few drinks, maybe a few more than she wanted to remember having, but the fourth of July party seemed like a good excuse, when she picked up her little nephew and started spinning him around and around on the second-story deck, the boy she only saw two times a year and she couldn’t help but want to make an impression on him as she felt her cheeks growing warm with the effort and the increased dizziness of the drinks, couldn’t help but want to make him think she was the fun part of the family of this child who was still light enough for her to lift and do what she was doing now, light enough for him to almost fly out of her arms and over the four foot high railing two stories up as she heard her brother’s voice enter her spinning, panicking mind, heard him ask her to be more careful as she set the boy down, trust still filling his eyes as he looked up at her asking her to do it again and she tried to mask the fear of how close she had really come to accidentally sending him over the edge of the deck and, as she smiled and laughed and pretended like it was all a game and went to get another drink, she couldn’t help but wonder if anyone noticed how she had almost ended the party before the fireworks even began.

 

Nagging Blind Spot
Michael Noon

Paul heard Julie’s quick intake of breath as he changed lanes, and thought, here she goes again—

 

Soda Pop
Peter Grandbois

Told there would be no more, despite his protests to the contrary, he sipped the dregs, then pulled the straw from his right eye, having already done the same with his left, poked the straw into the top of his head, bent it toward his mouth and blew.

 

Love
Jayme Yeo

When I fished them out of my stomach, my worries were small, hard, and cold like marbles, which was probably why it was so easy for you to swallow them, letting each one roll slowly over your tongue before they slid down your throat and out of sight.

 

Spring
Hunter Choate

The brown leaf crab-walked down the street in search of spring, and I longed to follow.

 

The Phone Call
Claire Snook

As he watched her drive away, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled the number that would finish everything.

 

Futile
Roman Colombo

I dreamed of an alternate existence where I did not leave and we were together–we broke up due to religious differences.

 

Inventiveness
S. Friedman

My husband invented a phone the size of a broach and now we talk every time he leaves the house and drives to work and picks up dinner and takes a jog and I can tell him how big his balls are fourteen times a day, which he appreciates, because he is, after all, an inventive man.

 

At Rather Than Along With
Kyle Sudby

“Novelties,” though Jason, once the sound of laughter replaced the ringing in his ears and the sting from the powder burns around his mouth lessened, “are anything but.”

 

The Quidnuc
Jesse Tangen-Mills

The ulhans of the Quidnuc quarried around the quagga fossils to count their qursh and quarrel over who would sleep in the ulhan quarters of the Q-ship.

 

Infertillity Treatment
Katelyn Sack

Thick black plastic blocked the radishes from fattening, and killed off half the healthy pansy plants in the rental yard, but as many times as I drove my spade into it and tugged to make room for roots, I didn’t want to know what lay beneath.

 

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