Allan by Karen J Mossman
When Allan’s wife passed. His days became lonely. He began to take long morning walks.
In his long grey coat and a woolly hat, Allan was lured by the excited voices of children playing.
Standing outside the school gates, his eyes misted. Their animated voices and laughter brought light to his life.
How he loved his daily walks.
One day a policeman knocked on the door. Someone had reported Allan as suspicious. “I’m afraid you can’t hang around schools these days.”
When had life lost its innocence? Allan wondered.
Life lost its joy once more and Allan died soon after.
The Headache by Sahara Foley
Deb laid on the couch, a towel draped over her tired eyes.. Too much screen time had put a strain on them. Her throbbing headache made worse by the sun streaming through her patio door.
A hot pain ran up Deb’s arm. A bug had bitten her on the wrist last night, and now, it was beet red and pulsating to her heartbeat. Then, it stopped. And so did her heart. WTH?
Suddenly, her cat, Cleo, hissed and jumped off her chest, yellow eyes wide with fright.
Deb’s stomach rumbled with hunger. Licking her lips, she knew what to do.
Adding Choices by J M Northup
“I’m not discussing this with you.”
“Why not?” Zeke sounded disappointed.
“You’ll want to debate it, and it’s not a debate,” I tried to explain.
Snorting in derision, Zeke smiled arrogantly. “Everything’s debatable.”
“That’s not true.”
Zeke groaned. “This is why I cut people like you out of my life.”
“Then you’ve lost your argument,” I replied. “By cutting people out, you silence any potential for
discussion. Look, my choices don’t negate yours, and not everything has to be a fight. Adding mix-ins to
vanilla ice cream doesn’t destroy the flavor – it enhances it. That’s true for ideas and diversity.