Lydia's Violin

by Mary Gordon

"A Triumph," said her husband, "Utter and complete." Lydia covered her face with the thick pillow, one of the four that the hotel had provided. She had begun contemplating traveling with her own pillows; actually she preferred something less puffy,...

by Ryu Murakami

I was shocked when they announced his name on television, and when he suddenly started talking, beads of sweat oozed out on my temples. To keep Toru from noticing anything, I slipped into the bathroom. Toru was spreading marmalade on...

by Sheila Kohler

She is in the bookstore near her rent-controlled West Side apartment, when she sees him, or thinks she sees him. She is almost certain it is he, though she turns away immediately, pretends to go on doing what she was...

by Stephen D. Gutierrez

"I can't hang anymore, honey," Chato sputtered into the prepaid cell phone he had stolen a few days ago, pocketing it quickly at Thrifty's. Now he was standing in an abandoned phone booth outside a liquor store. Cars were passing...

by Mary Miller

"I'm dead," the boy says. "You're not dead," his father says. "I'm dead," the boy insists, draping his body over the arm of his chair. The people at the next table look at him, at me, and smile. "Don't be...

Lydia's Violin

by Mary Gordon

Lullaby

by Ryu Murakami

Obsession

by Sheila Kohler

Chato's Day

by Stephen D. Gutierrez

At One Time This Was the Longest Covered Walkway in the World

by Mary Miller