Uplifting Short Stories
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Dusk shrouded the landscape in dense shadows as the moon peeped through the cloud cover on October 31st in the Pacific Northwest. It was a night rife with the mysterious. “Halloween!” shouted young children, moving stealthily, like criminals, down the sidewalks of the rural conclave of Mercer, Washington. In each little hand was clutched a goodie […]
Drayla, aged 6, carefully made her way down the steep concrete steps leading to the backyard of the home that her parents had just purchased. Arriving safely at the base of the flight, she looked out curiously at the dense verdant woods fronting the property. At her approach, flocks of starlings fluttered into the azure […]
BANG! BANG! BANG! Molly was distracted from the pot of chili she always seemed to be preparing by the clamorous clatter at her kitchen door. Licking the spoon with which she had been stirring the concoction, she replaced it on the spoon rest and stepped to the door. Opening it wide, she was unsurprised to […]
Here it was, almost nine o’clock already, thought Otto, an old man living on a pension in Edgewood, Washington, a small hamlet south and east of Seattle. Observing that it was inky black outside at this time of night, Otto flipped on the back porch light and waited for “them” to arrive. He shuffled to […]
A long time ago, when there was no internet or smartphones, a young Iranian man lived with his grandparents in a small town in India—or as Iranians call it, Hindustan. Parsa had been raised by his grandma Molood and grandpa Jamal since he was two, after his parents died in a plane crash on a […]
Molly was roused from sleep in her chair at the computer by a scruffing sound arising from the fireplace. Something was amiss. She looked around first for her pet cat, Freya, but found her asleep on the bearskin rug before the hearth, snoring softly. Some watchcat, thought Molly with mild annoyance. But, at least Freya […]
The bees’ knees were clattering noisily as they leaped from one flower to the next. So noisy were they that Tofu, the inimitable squirrel, who was the king of all he surveyed, was distracted in his search for acorns and nuts. “Silly Bees,” he scoffed impatiently. “What’s wit’ you, squirrel?” asked Darvon, a bumblebee, annoyed. […]
It was noon of a bright winter’s day. The air was crisp with frost, and Nadia, who was walking beside me, found her curls and the delicate down on her upper lip silvered with her own breath. We stood at the summit of a high hill. The ground fell away at our feet in a […]
The Maple Tree Inn started life as a rich man’s farmhouse. “Old Nick’s a rich man, indeed,” my father told me. “He won’t eat hot dogs.” We lived over the ridge from Nick and there was a rolling pasture where I’d train my binoculars on Nick as he hobbled about on his cane. One day […]
