They Can Fix Anything Except A Broken Heart (Flash Fiction)
Image by Ingo Jakubke from Pixabay Flash Fiction #161 “Can you fix it? Are you sure? Just tell me honestly. Well, if you can’t fix it, I can always go to Mario’s or The German Car Shop not far from here.” The customer says to Patel, the new owner of Mahaul Auto, which has changed…
The Orientation (Flash Fiction)
Image by Anna Lysenko from Pixabay Flash Fiction #159 Lisa doesn’t really need extra tutoring, but that didn’t prevent her parents from sending her to Ivy Training Center (ITC) since she got a “B” in the first quiz of the semester on pre-calculus, an important high school course. In her family, an “A-” is a…
An Old Story Retold (Flash Fiction)
Image by Gosia K. from Pixabay Flash Fiction #157 He is handsome, competent, diligent, polite, and educated. He has a good life, working for a big corporation for a decade. Then his boss leaves the company and finds greener pasture elsewhere. He thinks he should be promoted to the position that is vacated by his…
Shall We Dance?
Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay Whether you believe it or not, dancing is quite popular in Asian communities here, as popular as playing mahjong or watching K drama, especially among the middle aged and older individuals. I’ve been observing this for quite a while and it is quite surprising, considering the fact that dancing is…
The Reciprocation Confusion (Flash Fiction)
Image by Pexels from Pixabay Flash Fiction #155 I wonder if you have experienced this, but I certainly have. There’s this acquaintance, with whom you haven’t had much interaction. She (or he) showed up in a party or a meeting you both attended. Then you met in grocery stores, hair salons etc. After a while,…
Shoot The Messenger (Flash Fiction Continued)
Image by Samuel F. Johanns from Pixabay Flash Fiction #153 (This is the 2nd half of the story. The first half is here.) The conversation happened two years ago. And Lulan hasn’t thought about it until now. Just several days ago, Ajun came back from a trip to Southeast Asia. He should have taken a…
Shoot The Messenger (Flash Fiction)
Image by Samuel F. Johanns from Pixabay Flash Fiction #153 “This is really… a case of… a case of … shooting the messenger.” Lulan manages to say, almost out of breath. But what can she do but to accept the reality? She has been regarded with disfavor by somebody whom everyone admires. She admires him…
The New Year Resolution
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay I’m not going to have any new year resolutions, knowing that I am not resolute enough to carry out any of them, such as regular exercise, positive mentality, time management etc. However I am going to propose some new year directions, towards which I can try to make an…
The Beautiful Mountain (Flash Fiction)
Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay Flash Fiction #150 Aila and Nali have been long time friends since their high school days. Nali and her family just come back from a trip to California where they visited places in LA, and drove along the coastal Highway 1 up north until they reached San Francisco. “Oh,…
For The Right Or Wrong Reason
Image by Marjon Besteman from Pixabay The FIFA World Cup is coming to its most exciting final stretch, but not before Brazil was knocked off the quarterfinals. And people love the Brazil team and hate to see their unceremonious exit. So I heard. And even in America where soccer is not really popular, many of…
I Think I Got Omicron
Image by Anrita from Pixabay It all started last Sunday afternoon with a little bit of pain at the back of my throat. I immediately suspected that I might have either a cold or the Omicron. Regrets immediately poured into my mind: I should have gone to our local Walmart to get the Omicron booster…
Quote Of The Day: Husband And Wife
Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay Quote Of The Day #64 Joe Castleman is flying from New York to Helsinki with his wife Joan to receive the Helsinki Award for literature (imaginary. No such award exists). Joan was an aspiring writer once, and attended Smith College, but she quit and ran away with her professor…
The History Of Narcissism (Continued)
Image by S. Hermann / F. Richter from Pixabay This is the second half of the story. The first half is here. My father grew up in a Mongolian family of a half Mongolian village not far away from the Steppe. They would have preferred Mongolian style ranching if they had choices, but as time…
The History Of Narcissism
Image by S. Hermann / F. Richter from Pixabay I have done a lot of thinking and reflection on the history of narcissism in my family. Since I am too much a coward to broach this topic with my relatives, I can only rely on recollections, stories I heard, my own logical deduction, and certain…
The Crazy Son-In-Law (Flash Fiction Continued)
Image by alba1970 from Pixabay This is the second half of the story. The first half of this story is here. Ajin is sitting in the living room, leafing through a pile of mathematical papers and murmuring something to himself when everybody comes out of the car and into the house. “Ajin, are you OK?”…
Haoyan Do 