The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty The last tear, there on the feather. Photograph. Immortalized. Framed. Hung on the wall. You can’t un-happen history, nor do you want the facts to fade. Get stuffed, Santayana: there will be no re-runs of this sorrow. That emotional prison of abuse? The key of forgiveness has thrown the door open, and you’re […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty Redlight Mind “And I followed her to the station with her suitcase in my hand. Well, it’s hard to tell, it’s hard to tell. . .when all your love’s in vain. All my love’s in vain. When the train rolled up to the station. . .I looked her in the eye. Well, I […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty [Start with Darleen, or this will make less sense.] She dragged as the smart phone rang. “Nailed. DVD evidence by courier.” “Thanks. When do we go to divorce court?” “That’s Litigation. I’m Operations.” * * * Courier knew nothing, of course, but metadata in the MPEG4 would make the case. HomeWreckers, Inc. had […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty thump thump Four teenage boys were poised to sneak into the old house. Thump Thump They were armed with smartphones to take pictures all the way up to the top floor. THUMP THUMP After their triumphal return, they planned to return the next weekend with girls, and Freddy claimed he knew how to […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty A retro sock hop, and the band played doo-wop. My intentions were rogueish. I’d find some little sophomore something and let it be known that Judy and I were finished in a public way. That tramp. Locked eyes on a little blond girl in pony tails; green eyes, makeup, clothing and accessories arranged […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty Sirens now, after the gunshot. Scream captured, Munch-meets-Pollock style, on the wall. Theirs had been a long relationship, full of pain, suffering, and degradation. They’d retained a twisted regard through all of the abuse. She certainly didn’t hate him, for all her wrist was still numb from the final recoil. The lurid details […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty “I forgave Betty decades ago,” I told her daughter Ellen. We entered my step-mother’s house. Time to fix it up, Betty having at last allowed she’d ride out her widowhood in assisted living. “Good to hear,” said Ellen. “Mom said little of you, and what there was wasn’t nice.” I picked up a […]

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty “Over Macho Grande?” we challenge the trenchcoated figure with the fake cigarette. “No. I don’t think I’ll ever get over Macho Grande.” “We lost the dearest and best that day,” goes this week’s passphrase. Nods. Leads us deeper into Baltimore’s maze of alleys, still riot-torn decades on. Hillary’s Faith Fairness Act, taxing churches, […]

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