The Yi Variant_The Sum Total of a Legacy_The Orphan_Selcouth
Catalog Guide:
The Yi Variant
[This story satirizes responses to a devastating illness.]Senator Harold Loughty, perched high on the stage, raked his gaze across the packed and noisy house. He coughed once into the microphone and his audience fell silent, waiting. After pausing to extend the silence, he fired out, “Kids. I love kids.” He cocked his head upward to question the rafters, “You know?” Turning back to his supporters, he answered, “Kids say the darnedest things. My lovely wife Lola is pregnant, and we couldn’t possibly be happier. Here she is sitting behind me.” He turned and swept his upturned palm toward her. Sh...
The Sum Total of a Legacy
TW: Sexual ViolenceNo Divided by Yes“Don’t be rude, Kimmy. Give him a kisswww.onedoor.cc.” Mum puts her hands on her hips and makes an angry-parent noise.Uncle Brian looms in the doorway, his bulky frame blocking the sunlight. His gut sags over his belt and wriggling chest hairs escape from under his shirt.“A kiss, Kimmy,” he says. “You heard your mother, don’t be rude.” He smells of sausages and shame.He puckers his lips. They’re thick and fat, like two pink slugs. Mum pushes on my back, her nails poking through my t-shirt.“Kimmy,” she hisses, and I know she means business.I shuffle forward, my sandals gli...
The Orphan
The flickering light of the coachman's lantern barely pierced the darkness as Janey clambered down from the carriage. The gusting wind snatched at her hood as she tried to cover up against the driving rain. As the coach rumbled off into the night, she was relieved to see a sliver of light in the dark bulk of the house in front of her. “Don’t just stand there on a nasty night like this,” said a voice. “Come in so I can shut the door.” Janey was yanked out of the rain by a burly arm. The door slammed behind her. A stocky woman was eyeing her critically. All adults seemed old to Jane...
Selcouth
SELCOUTHHe said he was from France but there were a lot of French words he couldn’t quite pronounce. Take for example, on his first visit to the fancy restaurant down the street, he asked for le yaourt and cringed when the waitress frowned. He asked for tea instead, his voice low to the point of a whisper. To describe him would be to momentarily describe the afterlife: chimerical and dull. He had the most unremarkable face: a beard too rough to touch; lips, small and pink; green eyes like the lake Carezza and messy brown hair. He wasn’t much of anything anyway. His mother’s mother had left him...