Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Families.

The Only Poem I’ll Ever Write
For a few seconds after I entered her apartment, it was like I'd stepped backward through time. As though it were just yesterday that Leigh and I were flopped out on that couch, watching corny sci-fi movies while binging on dill pickle chips and planning our next summer trip.
By Corrie Alexander5 years ago in Families
Teenagers
At Cisco's home things were never boring especially with two teenagers that were going through hormonal changes, the communication would be between their friends that were the most important people in their lives. Theresa would usually find out later, thank God it was only once a year that Thalia the children's birth mom would be in the same state as The Jean.
By Marie A. Diaz-Cervo5 years ago in Families
Haddan Saeidan
Amy Greenlane lost her parents in a car accident when she was a small child and her Granpa and Granma adopted her as soon as possible. They slowly made her feel better by nourishing her soul with words and those words eventually made sentences then pages thus became the books of her life. Everyday words, new words, odd words, foreign words-diverse collections and arrangements of various words breathed in new meanings then exhaled hurts and therefore caressed her broken heart by their salve. Words made her feel alive, whole again. They gradually made her spirit tell its own happy stories.
By Robert Fletcher5 years ago in Families
Consequences
It was the most boring book ever. But I opened it anyway. The cover was black and floppy like Lucinda’s spelling book. I felt all warm and jittery as I threw the cat book onto the table and opened the black one, and a lot of money fell on the floor.
By SJ5 years ago in Families
My Grandfather's Gift
My Grandfather was not a wealthy man but he worked hard his whole life. He grew up during the Depression when everyone did whatever they could, he worked up until he was eighty-five years young. He was thrifty but still generous.
By MortisDarkfrost5 years ago in Families
Great Aunt Sarah's Library
Everyone clicked their tongue in that disappointed way when my Great Aunt Sarah got sick with COVID-19 and died. It happened rather quickly; she was sick one day, in our small-town hospital the next and quietly buried without ceremony in a family plot by the end of the week. No one was able to go visit her in the hospital; a good excuse for a lot of people who probably wouldn’t have gone to visit her anyway. She was ninty years old.
By Molly Koeneman (she / her)5 years ago in Families
A Fish Tale
Jason hadn’t seen his grandfather in almost two years, so he was a bit surprised to learn that when his grandfather passed away, he was the lone beneficiary in his will. His grandfather, Walter, had a house by the lake that he used to visit as a kid. Walter would take him out fishing, but he would always end up getting drunk. Jason’s dad used to tell him, Grandpa developed his alcohol problem after Grandma passed away, which was when Jason was around three years old, so he didn’t have too many memories of her.
By Roy Tsukishima5 years ago in Families
The Shoebox
Marc’s eyes burned, thick tears lodging in the corner of each eye. The air where he walked at the edge of a dying town flew about in cyclones of dust and debris. No matter what trick he tried, the dust penetrated and dug into his eyes. The burning sensation annoyed, but not as much as the dry scratching sound the dead leaves made on the concrete sidewalk.
By Jeffry Parker5 years ago in Families
No Season for Selfish Love
SPRING is my favorite season. Being born in a country with only two - dry and rainy - it was pure delight to be transported at a young age in a country with four seasons.
By Josephine Crispin5 years ago in Families
The Eyes of Aunt Simone
Sun was peeking through the blinds as Maya Rikson opened her eyes. It was devilishly hot. Sheets stuck to her body, she knew it was time to get up. Another night filled with terrors and dreams of bizarre nightmares had worn her out. Was this how it was going to be from now on she wondered. Waking up soaked in her own perspiration questioning the reasons Aunt Simone chose her. Unemployed, just shy of 40, she couldn’t help but second guess her decision to walk away from a job and a man she loved. How could anyone choose her in this scenario?
By Helen Tootsi5 years ago in Families
Mammon
Cocoa-dusted soil ran off my gloves like Adam’s ale as I began to unfold and dig deeper into the ground’s underbelly. Kneeling in dew on that mistier-than-usual morning, I tucked gazania seeds into a bed of grass in time for Spring. With each tiring scoop of my spade, the ephemeral rush of a warm exhale among cold inhales of the frosty air exhilarated me inside. Distracted by this balmy sensation, I almost missed that my pine-shaded spade had hit a dead-end. I could only make out what it was from the tip of what looked like pale-green shaded paper peeking out among the earth hiding this bewildering object like a blanket of shadows concealing Mammon itself. I tossed my spade aside and began uncovering the paper, revealing itself to be stacks of money, brushing off the last fragments of the petrichor-scented dirt. I couldn’t decipher between the adrenaline of my frosty inhales or the thrilling consternation of what my eyes were perceiving. I kneeled in stupefaction as £100 bills smirked deceivingly at me, giggling at its power over my senses.
By FPM FPM5 years ago in Families
The Journal
Merriam slowly climbed the stairs to her small studio apartment. Her apartment was once storage for the entire building, but she talked the manager into letting her renovate the small space into a living area because it had access to the rooftop. Being the only child of a single dad construction foreman, Merriam had grown up on construction sites and could do all the necessary work herself. The building owners saw an opportunity to get another apartment from the wasted space and gave her a much-reduced rent for as long as she was a resident. It was her haven from the world and she really needed that right now.
By Teresa Lampros5 years ago in Families