Reckon Review

Category: Fiction

  • Six of Clubs

    Fiction by Benjamin Bradley The harsh fluorescent lights stabbed Maddox’s eyeballs. He tugged down the forest green knit cap so it blocked his eyes, but the lights bled through. “Can you see shit through that?” Jane asked. “Lights are gonna give me a migraine.” “Future problems, Mad. Keep your eyes on the prize.” Jane flicked…

  • Soap ‘n Suds

    Fiction by Sheree Shatsky 1. Margaret wears a pink robe in the laundromat. A car in a rush shouting a too loud radio splattered her filthy on the street. She ran inside the Soap ’n Suds, stripped down quick and tossed her muddied dress into a washer. The manager hurried over with the robe someone…

  • Disaster Ballad

    By Nicholas John-Francis Claro I’d been with Leslie Flynn for three years, a rail thin ICU nurse from Kansas, who had a delicate, avian-like beauty. She was religious, maybe a little too proud, a bit boring, and put ice cubes in glasses of red wine. Leslie worked the 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift at…

  • I Would’ve Asked

    Fiction by Phebe Jewell Mom hates convenience stores, so when she drives me straight to the 7-Eleven after picking me up from the hospital this time, I know she’s run out of ideas. Parking in front, she keeps the engine running and hands me a five without saying anything. Mom knows how hard it is…

  • Star of Wonder

    Fiction by S.A. Cosby Latisha took a long drag off her Newport as Calvin came through the door of their trailer. The cold December wind tried to sneak in with him; he slammed the door shut as he shook himself, tossing light flakes of snow on the floor. Latisha thought he somewhat resembled a bear.…

  • Road Trip in A Place Where a Different You Once Lived

    Fiction by Sumitra Singam is a melanoma sun scorching your driving hand while your other sneaks pineapple lumps and chocolate fish, sips of L&P sugar-rushing you straight back to CDs and spaghetti straps and first kisses. It’s single-lane highways stretching long as a piece of string, sweet as bro, until a logging truck slows you…

  • Melanin and the Pink Tube 

    Fiction by Sudha Subramanian Janice’s cries slice through the hardwood even before I knock. It is a frosty November morning, and the ten-year-old’s screech, spattered with words, is thawing the frigid air in the foyer. I slip my hand into the bag to feel the edge of the plastic tube, and my toes trace the…

  • One Hundred Percent of the Time

    Fiction by Rob D. Smith Maria Jaworski slid the Styrofoam container containing spinach ricotta pierogies across the window counter to her last customer of the evening. He was always her last customer. “Did you hear about the fire last night at the Parelli’s?” Eugene Mitchum leaned his beefy forearms across the food truck counter. “Never…

  • Some Trouble Next Door

    Fiction by Craig Rodgers The dogs won’t stop tonight. They’re barking, they’re yipping. The sound of their bodies hitting the fence with some force comes and comes again. Andrew turns the blinds but he sees only streetlight falling onto the road. He thinks, maybe I’ll go over there. He thinks, shut those dogs up. He…

  • Abandoned

    Fiction by Zachary Kocanda I joined a lot of Facebook groups after Theresa got sick. Our daughter Katie helped me download the app on my phone. It took an hour, but I did it. First, I joined a group for spouses of cancer patients, then a group where folks chatted about growing up during the…