topic: LOVE AND HEARTBREAK medium: TEXT It was an insane idea. The sum total of their correspondence had been a flurry of emails over the past nine days. Each missive growing in intensity and intimacy. Sean had kept his fledgling relationship secret, connecting with Angie through their mutual love of […]

topic: BORDERS medium: TEXT “Keep quiet, there’s a good boy.” “But where’s Mummy?” “She’ll be joining us later. She has to look after your little sister. You know how she needs her mother. You’re all grown up now and I need you to be a brave, young man for Daddy.” […]

topic: BORDERS medium: TEXT Ba  Oi!1        You see me every day. I see you peeking through the gates, regarding me critically as I return from work, getting off my bicycle, a little sweaty, my helmet on (of foreign origin, it says ‘california pro’ and is really a skateboard helmet-where I […]

topic: LOVE AND HEARTBREAK medium: TEXT She had never touched him before. Not as his friend, not as a woman. When she stroked his cheek it was to say good-bye but her hand began to tingle. It was an electrified tingle which made it’s way up her arm, down her […]

topic: MONEY medium:TEXT, VIDEO This story was shared at a PenTales event themed “Making Ends Meet” After my parents’ divorce, our family’s house became Dad’s house. Weekends there became not normal weekends, but very exciting trips. Mom had taken our beds with her when we moved out, so at Dad’s […]

topic: MONEY medium: TEXT, VIDEO as shared at a PenTales Event themed “Making Ends Meet” The email simply reads, “I’ll pay you three hundred and fifty dollars. Three hundred and fifty dollars.” I lie down and I think about this. I think about a three, a five, and a zero. […]

topic: MONEY medium: TEXT, VIDEO as shared at a PenTales event themed “Making Ends Meet” Wie üblich, dachte ich als Kind, alles Geld sei Spielgeld. Das wäre keine Problem gewesen, hätten meine Eltern mir nicht so viel davon gegeben. Ich habe es nämlich verschenkt, so wie man Postkarten oder wie […]

topic: MONOGAMY medium: TEXT This story was the winner of the “Monogamy” contest Get to know Becky better by going Behind the Story I huddled by the rock, the late October sun struggling to remove the morning’s chill.  I leaned my head back and let the sun’s paltry warmth fall […]

topic: MONEY medium: TEXT EVERYWHERE the economist should say that wealth is the present value of one’s worth, the sum of what he has and what he owes, and always in confident speech should make clear that value is always a figure computed and not drawn. He must use always […]