Stories

Boris's workstation was strewn with wires, circuits, and tattered blueprints. He sat there fingers interlaced, eyes beaming through his glasses, staring at nothing. He was thinking. Boris lived in a triplex rowhouse. He not only shared walls with his neighbours – one on the left and one on the right…

At the foot of Black Mountain, eighty klicks north of the only place on the map, the land was a patchwork of pastures and fields. On a heat-singed day with barely a breeze, a lizard skittered into the undergrowth as a boy on a bike careened down a hillside. Junior…

Just inside Haney’s Hardware, next to the front door with its little bell, was a bank of coin-op vending machines. From them came gumballs in every colour; flimsy, plastic yo-yos; and, press-on tattoos of Flintstones characters. Darrell Haney, the store’s owner, installed the machines to entertain kids so they wouldn’t…

Ms. Howard loved her Grade 3 students at Bloomington Elementary School. She taught them math, English, science, and music, but of all the subjects she taught, she thought the Death Lesson was the most important. She sat at her desk grading spelling quizzes. Her face was pleasant with big, smart…

Harry looks built for speed. With his skinny arms chugging at his sides, he’s a bullet train. With them extended behind him, he’s a fighter jet. He’s fast, nimble, every sinew dedicated to making his limbs blur. Michael, on the other hand, doesn’t stand a chance. Michael’s fat and he…