Louella Lester

      Marking Your Territory   It was a pack I’d never seen in my neighbourhood before. A panting bulldog and a big-eyed mutt, with a handsome guy in tow. We were all waiting to cross the street, them on one corner, me on the other, when the guy,...

Phoebe Thomson

      Friendly Shriek of bats, in the barn’s rafters. Wild. Sweet and sour smell, our sweat, our blankets, our hay. Pebbles whickering, the clatter of her week-old foal, its brittle legs. Tired. Not-long back to sleep. More light. Later. Rain on...

Fiona Perry

      The Mirror   Eimear’s half-brother, Julian, died and left her a terraced house. I offered to help Eimear clear the rooms and to do runs to the charity shop with anything worth passing on.  We discovered that he had amassed about a hundred...

Harlan Yarbrough

      An Orphan’s Progress               Geoffroy, no longer young and a man of importance, could have ridden in a luxurious coach.  He chose to walk, because he enjoyed walking.  If Zarafa was going to walk he would walk with her.  No strolling,...

Meg Pokrass 

      The Forest This has something to do with the adoption of that unwanted animal, right there in the living room. Her husband watching telly, drinking beer, not looking at the animal dancing around. The animal gazing into her eyes, finding her...