All Fiction – Per Contra

Below is a list of fiction published in Per Contra since Issue 37. Older work can be found in the archive.

The Chill by Richard Burgin

A man walks into a bar and decides that he will tell a joke beginning with those exact words--“A man walks into a bar.”

Maybe the Best Catcher Dickie Pracht Ever Had by Paul Dickey

Dickie Pracht, Tommy’s favorite pitcher, admitted he hadn’t actually seen Tommy for twenty-five years. Anyway, at the last minute at the grave site, Tommy’s daughter invited Dickie to the family lunch provided by her church. Tommy had often spoken highly of Dickie and that seemed reason enough.

Apsis by Billy O'Callaghan

After the dreams have come, the mornings feel like glass around me. Everything looks too bright, too well preserved.

Zeros and Ones by Michael Don

Our bellies are full of Easter, mine for the first time. I wonder what Neal is thinking. He likes to start and finish his thoughts with silence. I do the opposite.

The Change by Kathleen Hellen

Mitzi wasn’t her name; it was the name Dad had given her because it sounded like a movie star’s—more exotic—a nickname he had given her after they married, when she started working for him at the bar.

Juan Camilo's Dream by Rolaine Hochstein

We were leaving Colombia. The driver was waiting. Dennis, my husband, a man of action, was downstairs with our baggage. I, just a woman, was still upstairs.

In the Cooler at Little Macedonia by Sandra Kolankiewicz

For the months I lived in the City, I worked in a small restaurant called Little Macedonia. The neighborhood had dirty brick buildings with little markets on street level, markets without splashes of flowers for sale out their front doors or exotic tropical fruits and vegetables lined up in crates along the sidewalk outside.

Ghost Lines by James McAdams

"Remember Tour of Duty?" Clyde asked. He filled his glass straight from the tap without removing his eyes from the bar’s TV.

Boot Camp by Michael P. McManus

Near midnight it was raining and everyone had left Brian’s going-away party. Brian was gone too, and no one ever knew how long he had been missing in his neighborhood of million-dollar homes.

Solomon by Ryan Napier

From the journal of Solomon Godfrey, captain of the Industrious Cousin, a whaling ship out of New Bedford, Massachusetts:
Sat., Jul. 1. Early this morning, there was fighting below deck.

Winning Prisoner by June Sylvester Saraceno

Of the indoor games we played in winter, Prisoner was one of Dare’s favorites. One late afternoon when I had been tied to the small ladder back chair in Dare’s room for what felt like hours, it became my least favorite.

Shiny by Tina Tocco

They were meeting me at school, Dad told her, so Grandma looked for her favorite shoes until she cried. Even if she’d found them, she could never miss what else had gone missing

Stinkman by They were meeting me at school, Dad told her, so Grandma looked for her favorite shoes until she cried. Even if she’d found them, she could never miss what else had gone missing

Then Jonathon’s up and over the railing, crimson cape flapping in the September breeze. He falls farther than he expects before hitting the warning track; on impact, he grunts, dropping to a knee.

Issue 38 - Fiction

A Passport to the Old Country by Cezarija Abartis

For Serena, it was like a radio station drifting in and out over another channel – voices disappeared under the dissonance, and the piano keys turned into hammering.

Natural History by David Ackley

Three deer have come out in the open to feed in alfalfa along the pasture woods, across acres of new-mown ground from the boy at the barn window. The cuttings are stubbled and strewn with yellowish chaff.

Olympia by Richard Burgin

Lately, whenever I get up at night (for the usual reasons), I’ve gotten into the habit of writing down a line or two that spontaneously occurs to me as soon as I wake up.

The Swami

Cowboys and Indians

Three Days Two Nights

Nocturne

Outside Wheeling

Tulips

The Show

The Husband and the Gypsy

Floating Out Into The Blue Night

Horses

What We Talk About When We Talk About Parental Love

A Flower on the Moon, Maybe by Paul-André Betito

In the soft light I see you breathing, blinking, your sights seemingly locked onto the waning crescent moon beyond the window.

Spring Cleaning by Powell Burke

Katelyn found the state finals trophy wedged between the wall and the back of the vanity. She'd knocked the box cutter back there, reached to catch it, and there was the trophy.

What We Do For Love by George Dila

I hadn't planned on making a confession, but there was a pause in the conversation, and I impulsively filled it.
“I did an awful thing on the way here,” I said.

Rosko by Zdravka Evtimova

There was a black whirlpool in the Struma River which was not far from our house. The place was wild, overgrown with stubborn willows.

Oxi Day by Joseph Giordano

The day after the political rally in Athens, sunlight and the coo of a mourning dove opened my eyes. I was naked, next to Kia or was it Karina?

Coupletime! by Nathan Leslie

Blotches of rain slopping the windshield. Wipers smear them silly. The satellite radio is out. Forgot to pay the bill.

Where There Is Smoke by Edwin Madu

Before, if you stood at Ogwubudo you could see three of the five paths that lead to the five clans that make up Agulu. You could see these roads because Ogwubudo is what the educated ones now call the village square; the place where the sun seems the brightest, the hottest.

Rain Enough by Wendell Mayo

When I arrived at the secondary school in the Administrator’s grumble-storm of a village, he removed his brown-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes with two sharp knuckles. I took advantage of all his eye rubbing to pinch-wring water from my forehead.

Robert Hall, This Season by Robert Radin

My father’s remains were in an urn in a wall in a remote memorial park in the Imperial Valley. I had spent most of my life wanting to get him out of there, but my mother was his next of kin and refused to give her consent.

Moving Day by Anna Saikin

Somewhere past Lampasas, Paige realized that she had forgotten the directions to Glenwood cemetery. She’d been on the road for an hour and a half and was tempted to turn around.

David and the Three Maidens by Lewis Turco

They were older than they acted, but the three young women were being rather giddy. They had all recently graduated from a famous college in the Adirondacks, and now here they were in Florence, the first stop on the tour of Europe their families had agreed to treat them to as a graduation gift.

A Sickness by V.S. Yanovsky
Translated by Isabella Levitin

On the way downstairs, Borisov noticed once again how his neighbor was fearfully shielding her children from him on the narrow landing. "Disgusting! After all, I'm not a leper, those fools!"

Off Island by David Ackley

There were only six passengers aboard the small ferry when it came about from the island dock and began to beat thickly through the cold grey November swells toward the main.

Signs and Wonders by Niyi Ademoroti

With God Evangelical Ministries—WIGEM for short—was founded six years ago.

The Geology of Judy Sedgwick by L. S. Bassen

Stranger than fiction was the newly discovered truth that there was more water under the Earth than in all the oceans on its surface.

Two Down, A Million To Go by A.N. Block

“Think that hurt?” Dad asked, but I was rubbing my ear so hard, planning revenge, I could barely hear him.

Upstream at Ikea by Lori Ann Bloomfield

Darren had never imagined Stephanie Lawson beyond the weather report. Okay, he might have pictured her in a bikini on a beach when she read the vacation forecast, but he’d certainly never imagined her house.

Venice by Chris Bullard

His mom slammed the door of the dishwasher and shouted, “They said we had to evacuate.

Sunday at the Park by Jeff Burt

Sunday afternoon’s I sat in the backseat of my father’s car, books read and snacks crushed and Gameboy spent, waiting for the final hour my mother would come to the park and pick me up for the week

Lock Hard by P. Kearney Byrne

When Janet is dying, she asks for Eddie.

Liling by Kelly Cherry

During the early years of the Ming Dynasty, one young woman in particular was praised for her beauty.

Dallas of My Dreams by Arthur Davis

I moved south on Broadway, sucking down gulps of cold, dank air and stumbled into a crowd of tourists, their arms stretched taut around packages cloaked in brightly colored Christmas wrapping.

Even if It’s Only Me by Lance Dyzak

Carolyn read somewhere that in the ‘90s mothers were dropping their babies into public toilets.

The Conclusion of the Species by Soren Gauger

I had only gone so far as to mention to an old friend that I was deeply troubled by this certain ailment, and with a snap of his fingers he was off to make a few telephone calls; half an hour later he had, much to his evident satisfaction, fixed me up a rare appointment to see Porcheria.

I Hope You Have Now Found The Peace There You Couldn’t Find Here by James Hartman

A few weeks later I saw her at Kroger near the red delicious apples.

Hitler in Pasadena by Brett Jackson

I was standing at the snack bar window on a Saturday in 1980 when Jack walked up and told me that Adolf Hitler was alive and living in Pasadena.

Whatever You Can Spare by Thomas Kearnes

I never stand outside the store for long. At least, it never seems long after the first kind stranger presses a five or a wad of singles into my hand.

Fan Belts by Leonard Kress

The summer my fiancée Kylie and I finished up with grad school, I was lucky enough to secure a teaching position beginning in the fall.

The Visitors by Aimee LaBrie

At the age of thirty-five, Hazel finds herself living with her elderly mother in a retirement community called On Top of the World.

The Embrace by Catharine Leggett

So many of them Naomi had never met, the people who populated Eric’s life.

The Other Person by Nathan Leslie

You write the story in the second person. It’s your go-to point of view now.

A Reminder Between Your Eyes by Eric Maroney

The Chabadnik would not let Serino alone.

Pinch by Lucian Mattison

He just wanted his mother to come back and explain to him, again, how it was possible that she could love a man like Yohan.

Cindy Silk by Ed Meek

"Excuse me, Cindy, but these people tell me their food isn’t hot,” Angelo said.

One to One by Jay Merill

Señor José Fuentes sits with a folded smile today. You cannot read his eyes.

Christmas at Norma’s Pizza by Manek R. Mistry

She knows her staff steals from the register. Not a lot—surprising, because stoners can’t always manage subtlety—but enough to be noticeable, even though she doesn’t actually balance the till.

A Day at the Races by A. Scanlan O'Hearn

When Jimmy said they’d spend a day at the races, Jaycee thought of the expression, It’s a dog’s life, and then, what the fuck is that about? Any dog she ever knew was layin’ in the dirt in a hole-strewn back yard on a short leash next to an empty bowl.

Long Hair by Uche Okonkwo

My parents cut my hair the day after I got my admission letter into Model Secondary School.

Mourning in Miami by Marlene Olin

Martha liked blue hydrangeas. These were white. Anyone who truly knew her would have known that she liked blue

Secret Valley Birds by Dave Petraglia

“The hill will break your neck, Claire Roux,” Mssr. Fabre would say.

January 8, 2010 by Vincent Poturica

On the one-year anniversary of Lasantha Wickrematunge’s murder, two weeks before Sri Lanka held its general election and Prageeth Eklinagoda, another journalist, went missing for good,....

Angle by Glen Pourciau

I’m looking at my phone in a comfy chair at the mall, more or less unaware of anything around me, when a man sits in the matching chair to my right and starts in on me with his story.

For Official Use Only by Charles Rafferty

Marcus saw the station wagon pull away from the shoulder of Route 25, leaving behind a pile of fresh flowers in the snow.

Immortal Longings by Charles Rammelkamp

“I see Fahrenheit 9/11 is showing at the Bijou along with Princess Diaries 2. When did Brent Mitchum open a second screening room, anyway? The Bijou was always a single-screen cinema

The Green Parrot by Erik Raschke

Menno and Stacey had first run into Jacques and Coraleine at a fetish party.

Born Out of Love by Andrew Rhodes

My mom was forty-two years old when I was born, and my dad was forty-nine. They were unequipped parents and did not sign me up for sports or activities, which assured my status as interloper from a very young age.

Best of Three by John Sawney

Bing Crosby comes on the jukebox and now them silly little gets round the pool table are carrying on again, pissed out of their heads, singing along about how they’re dreaming of a shite Christmas.

Leveling by Chad Schuster

It was gray and cloudy but hot as shit. We were sweating through our t-shirts as we rode our bikes alongside the gridlocked highway, a stretch overrun by stoplights and big-box stores and Korean barbecue joints.