http://www.carvezine.com Carve Magazine - featuring the finest short fiction online en-us http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/fall/nieson.htm And then the ground becomes sky. Just like that. This great grey column of rage mushrooming before our eyes. The streets riddled and swimming with rubble. Glimpses of neighbors scrambling past with pillows overhead and children under arm. Everything reduced to the next breath. The next blink. Quick, run for your lives. The sky is falling, the sky is falling! http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/fall/binder.htm She looked over his shoulder at the streamers and balloons that hung from the ceiling tiles. "It's strange having balloons at a funeral." "Maybe that's how they do it down in Mexico. Maybe they like it festive," he said. "I went to this funeral once where they had sparklers and firecrackers and a bar with champagne." http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/fall/baines.htm Well also, she says, laughing, we'd outstayed our visas, though but actually we outstayed them ages before, but the cops, see, they were our mates, once a week they rounded us up and stuck us in the cell for an hour and then came for a drink! And she gives a loud crack: whenever she laughs she throws her head back - eyes off the road - and when she talks she always shouts; and now she flings her skinny bare arm out, she's driving one-handed, and in the hand she's flailing she's holding a nut bar, she's eating too. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/fall/woo.htm Chuck had call waiting and I didn't. Chuck had a lot of things that I didn't have. Was that the real reason for this little joke of mine, good old jealousy? Jealous of him, of his parents, of his house, of the fact that he would without question get into MIT and every other school he applied to, while I would be lucky enough to get waitlisted at Boston University? http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/fall/eill.htm I hit her. So does Kevin. We take turns with the bat. In the face, on the head, about the legs. "Yah, Yah," we say, like cowboys. I think, get out of here baby deer, get out, until I look down and see she can't even move. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/summer/corcoran.htm The congregation of the Greater Nashville Baptist Church wants everyone to know "Jesus Loves You." This church is the size of a regional high school, maybe bigger. Its message board, announcing services and events in addition to the fact that Jesus loves us and any other sinners in the Greater Nashville area, looks like a movie marquee. It's sprawled on the side of the Briley Parkway and it has tennis courts. Claustrophobia wriggles up my spine. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/summer/derose-weiss.htm The seagull peers in my direction, first out of one eye and then the other, turning his shrewd head from side to side. I look around to see if there is someone else who he might be giving the eye, but there is no one. I do believe this seagull is in love with me. It's possible that he is actually considering an attack-it's a fine line, sometimes-but I prefer to call it love. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/spring/mccafferty.htm I'm woken up by a prodding, wet dog nose again, because Princess or Precious or whatever has to piss and shit. Without opening my eyes I can tell that it's late morning, because it's hot in my van. I slide open the door and my Pomeranian passenger hops down to do her business. I sit in the doorframe of the van and stretch my arms and wish I had a cigarette, while I avoid looking directly at what my new canine friend unleashes on the earth. When she is done, she climbs her tiny front paws up my legs and stares at me, tongue out and tail wagging. I pet her well-groomed head and we take off. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/spring/davis.htm Wall's parents, Tom and Norma, named him for the guy who wrote Ben Hur, Lew Wallace. Lew was a Civil War general. Wall likes to jump off the deck of his family's house with an umbrella. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/spring/pietrucha.htm Every morning now my mother calls to warn me of her upcoming death. She says they are calls of life, to remind me that she is still living, but I think they are calls of death, to remind me that she is still dying. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/spring/jones.htm Richard Foster knows that he is a fat man. He and his wife Eileen Anderson-Foster are at the airport checking in for their flight back east, when they first hear the term "customer of size." When the boy behind the counter, Charles, says it, he uses a soft voice. He says that because of his size, Richard may need to purchase a second seat for the flight. He says that in a minute, he will call a flight attendant over to escort him onto the plane, so that they can check and see if this will be necessary or not. He says its policy, and that they have to ensure the comfort of all of their customers. He hopes Richard can understand. Richard does not respond except to tell the boy that it's okay and that he will go along with it. He takes a seat in the waiting area with his wife. http://www.carvezine.com/issue/2008/spring/chang.htm 6:00 AM. The alarm rang loudly. Chris woke up. He scratched his head. Jimmy lay on the mattress in the living room. Jimmy pulled the blanket over his head not wanting to get up. Chilyong came out from the bathroom. He had a yellow towel saying 'Chicago Soccer Club' around his neck. http://www.carvezine.com/index.html Now featuring the Fall 2008 issue.